His departure was sudden (no notice whatsoever) and right after the release of an expansion. He's starting a company but he has no details. He doesn't even know if they will make games or not. As much flak as they've gotten for the Shudderwock debacle and their reticence to ever admit they completely botched something right off the bat, I wouldn't be surprised if Brode got the boot because of his comments.
i highly doubt he resigned from the best position in the world, but i also highly doubt they fired the face of hearthstone on a minor issue. theres either alot going on behind the scenes or hes telling the truth and maybe he has a comfy ammount of money and wants to try new things
I doubt it. If he was fired, it was because sales for the past 2 expansions have not met expectations, and tptb at blizzard think it's because of the creative decisions and not the ripoff business model forcing certain design decisions that the paying playerbase is turning away.
He probably left because all of the toxicity and scapegoating was not good for his psyche. The money probably was not worth it anymore and he left to find something better and less abusive. I wish him the best and glad he took his leave. Hopefully he will be treated better in his next job.
No one would fire brode due to balance purposes because he is the highest. He obviously has bosses that are higher than him but I don't really have time to think about and explain what I'm saying but basically he's the authority when it comes to internal hearthstone issues that no one would fire him for.
Lets be real. Hearthstone has always been a game carried by an AMAZINGLY beautiful and intuitive UI for a card game, and a fantastic community of personalities and websites, like Hearthpwn.
It has also always been hindered by unforced and baffling errors from the design team. The most obvious is the lack of communication and clarity particularly on the pro side of things. Also, what seems like it should be fairly obvious design and balance mistakes slip through...though I will say that they have been getting MUCH better at that starting with Un Goro. Arena tends be not handled well from what I hear. I don't play it. It makes sense they may want a change.
I don't blame Brode for the cost problems, that is the fault of some accountant in the basement of Blizzard or whatever.
I work for a huge company as well and stuff like this is fairly common. My best guess is that he had a bonus tied to the amount of preorders and purchases made within the first week of release. Which could also explain why I saw more of his face in different interviews and videos than I remember seeing with previous releases. That last bit is purely subjective of course. This was probably his biggest bonus / biggest release and not likely to easily happen again in the future. So the smart thing to do if you’re tired of being a manager, trust me it gets old fast if you have a creative mind, is to stock up and start fresh. And most importantly, go out on a high note.
Actually, I only think it is was sudden to those outside. I think it was timed to be just after this expansion to cause the least effect.
As they say, "Hind sight is 20/20". Looking back at the last few months, it seems like Team 5 was getting ready for this. Getting other people's names out there, others involved in the pre-launch. Hiring Chakki , Ben talking about how they have the next few expansions in the pipeline, etc...
I think Ben has a new(ish) kid and wants to spend time w/ this family and have less "management" and more design/creativity in his work life.
His departure was sudden (no notice whatsoever) and right after the release of an expansion. He's starting a company but he has no details. He doesn't even know if they will make games or not. As much flak as they've gotten for the Shudderwock debacle and their reticence to ever admit they completely botched something right off the bat, I wouldn't be surprised if Brode got the boot because of his comments.
He probably made the decision a while back, but decided to wait until after the Witchwood release to make it public. So it may seem sudden to us, but that doesn't mean it was based on recent events. The reason he gave, wanting to work on something else after almost 10 years of Hearthstone, sounds plausible to me.
You could go back in hindsight and find a reason like that at pretty much any point in his career as the Hearthstone front man. This speculation has very little substance to it.
It’s pretty simple: He’s gotten bored and wants to do something different. He left after the expansion with little notice to oversee release and because his departure being public before hand would have been distracting from the hype. Likely top level execs knew his plan and that’s it.
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Here's my earlier post on Brode's comments about the Shudderwock interactions.
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/215811-ben-brode-interview-even-he-realizes-shudderwock
His departure was sudden (no notice whatsoever) and right after the release of an expansion. He's starting a company but he has no details. He doesn't even know if they will make games or not. As much flak as they've gotten for the Shudderwock debacle and their reticence to ever admit they completely botched something right off the bat, I wouldn't be surprised if Brode got the boot because of his comments.
Short answer: no
That would be amateur level for a big company like Blizzard. This isnt a company run by butterflies that get upset because of one comment.
I do believe Brode decision to be sudden and there must be another reason they aren't telling us.
i highly doubt he resigned from the best position in the world, but i also highly doubt they fired the face of hearthstone on a minor issue. theres either alot going on behind the scenes or hes telling the truth and maybe he has a comfy ammount of money and wants to try new things
maybe ben brode knew he was going to leave and was trying to sabotage hearthstone before he left :oh: :thinking:
Check out my decks & feel free to make suggestions!
I doubt it. If he was fired, it was because sales for the past 2 expansions have not met expectations, and tptb at blizzard think it's because of the creative decisions and not the ripoff business model forcing certain design decisions that the paying playerbase is turning away.
Wtf, no of course not.
if you at least took the bothersome task of reading his statement, you wouldn't be posting this kind of crap.
Emhh, no.
Top deck is cheat
He probably left because all of the toxicity and scapegoating was not good for his psyche. The money probably was not worth it anymore and he left to find something better and less abusive. I wish him the best and glad he took his leave. Hopefully he will be treated better in his next job.
No one would fire brode due to balance purposes because he is the highest. He obviously has bosses that are higher than him but I don't really have time to think about and explain what I'm saying but basically he's the authority when it comes to internal hearthstone issues that no one would fire him for.
I love Ben Brode as a person.
Lets be real. Hearthstone has always been a game carried by an AMAZINGLY beautiful and intuitive UI for a card game, and a fantastic community of personalities and websites, like Hearthpwn.
It has also always been hindered by unforced and baffling errors from the design team. The most obvious is the lack of communication and clarity particularly on the pro side of things. Also, what seems like it should be fairly obvious design and balance mistakes slip through...though I will say that they have been getting MUCH better at that starting with Un Goro. Arena tends be not handled well from what I hear. I don't play it. It makes sense they may want a change.
I don't blame Brode for the cost problems, that is the fault of some accountant in the basement of Blizzard or whatever.
I work for a huge company as well and stuff like this is fairly common. My best guess is that he had a bonus tied to the amount of preorders and purchases made within the first week of release. Which could also explain why I saw more of his face in different interviews and videos than I remember seeing with previous releases. That last bit is purely subjective of course. This was probably his biggest bonus / biggest release and not likely to easily happen again in the future. So the smart thing to do if you’re tired of being a manager, trust me it gets old fast if you have a creative mind, is to stock up and start fresh. And most importantly, go out on a high note.
Actually, I only think it is was sudden to those outside. I think it was timed to be just after this expansion to cause the least effect.
As they say, "Hind sight is 20/20". Looking back at the last few months, it seems like Team 5 was getting ready for this. Getting other people's names out there, others involved in the pre-launch. Hiring Chakki , Ben talking about how they have the next few expansions in the pipeline, etc...
I think Ben has a new(ish) kid and wants to spend time w/ this family and have less "management" and more design/creativity in his work life.
He probably made the decision a while back, but decided to wait until after the Witchwood release to make it public. So it may seem sudden to us, but that doesn't mean it was based on recent events. The reason he gave, wanting to work on something else after almost 10 years of Hearthstone, sounds plausible to me.
He was the highest up in team 5, I doubt they kicked him out based on his comments.
That's Incredible!
You could go back in hindsight and find a reason like that at pretty much any point in his career as the Hearthstone front man. This speculation has very little substance to it.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide
It’s pretty simple: He’s gotten bored and wants to do something different. He left after the expansion with little notice to oversee release and because his departure being public before hand would have been distracting from the hype. Likely top level execs knew his plan and that’s it.