Ben Brode Leaves Blizzard Entertainment
Ben Brode has posted a very important announcement this afternoon. After working at Blizzard for 15 years and developing Hearthstone for almost 10, he has decided to leave the company.
Thank you, Ben, for all the communication you've given the community over the years, the laughs, and most importantly, this game.
Quote from Ben BrodeTo my friends, coworkers, and the Hearthstone community,
After 15 years at Blizzard and almost 10 years working on Hearthstone, I have made the incredibly difficult decision to embark on a new journey.
Man, that was a hard sentence to type.
I was 20 years old when I started here. My first role was ‘Night Crew Game Tester.’
Since then, Blizzard has been good to me. I got to cast esports events, announce BlizzCons, play in Rock Bands, write raps, and work with incredible people. But the biggest opportunity came in 2008 when I joined “Team 5.” The Hearthstone Team.
I am very proud of Hearthstone. I think we made an impact on the industry. People tell me that Hearthstone brought their family closer together, or that they became close friends with people they met at a Fireside Gathering. Others tell me they were inspired by Hearthstone to become game developers themselves. It’s incredible to be a part of something that touches so many people.
But as proud as I am of Hearthstone, I am even more proud of the team.
There is no team like the Hearthstone team. People have come and gone over the 10 years Hearthstone has been in development, but there’s something special about the Soul of the Team. We knew our most important product wasn’t the game, but the team itself. A great team can do great things, and I think the Hearthstone team is the greatest. It isn’t just a job. It’s a shared passion. We get to come to work and focus on the game we love and try to make it better every day.
We frequently check the Hearthstone subreddit looking for opportunities to improve the game. I have loved the silly memes, engaging in spirited debates, or even just being held accountable to our shared high standards for the game. We try to be highly available on social media, and I think our team helped push the envelope in this regard. It has been especially satisfying to me to see the team step up over the last few years and help engage in these ways as I became more focused on direction and less on actual design.
I get too much credit by virtue of being a public face, but the 80+ people on the development team are still there, and they are the ones actually making the cards, brawls, events, missions, and features. I am confident the game is in the best possible hands, and I’m excited to see where a new generation of leaders takes Hearthstone from here.
I am very fortunate to be able to take a crazy risk right now in my life, and I’m excited to be scrappy and a little scared. I’m going to help start a new company. We’ll probably make games, but we haven’t figured anything else out, yet. I’m looking forward to designing, programming, and actually creating things again. I’m going to miss the on-campus Starbucks, though. Dang.
Blizzard, thank you for taking a chance on me, and thank you for taking a chance on Hearthstone. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
And to the passionate community of players – I will miss you, and the laughs we shared together. Thank you for making being a part of Hearthstone so much fun for me. I’ve loved every minute.
Sincerely,
Ben Brode
LOL Pit Lord used to be a 4mana 7/7? He was the meme before the meme then! Never seen that video, thanks for posting!
EDIT: 4/4 Succubus seems playable, too. Funny how some original minions were actually better balancewise.
EDIT 2: Like, I see Keeper as a 2/3 there. We all saw that 2/4 was too powerful and 2/2 was too much of a nerf. They had 2/3 at the start yet didn't keep it :P
we will miss you ben brode. thank you for hearthstone, the game that has become part of my daily life for so many years...
lol...
Press F to pay respects and well met's.
I felt really bad with this announcement :'( We'll miss you ...
Oh man.... Those remaining in Team 5 are all so dull and not so funny as Ben ! What a strange decision to leave work of your life....
I've been staring at this post in utter shock for the last 5 minutes and I'm still speechless.... I opened the site expecting to find the usual whiny nerfs threads and got this slammed into my face instead.... A bolt out of the blue.... I guess I can't do anything other than wishing Ben good luck for whatever he's planning to do next,even though I can't help but feel sad cause things will never be the same without him... It's gonna be so damn weird to watch next expansions reveal streams without hearing his laugh in the background....
Same...The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the post was ,,Wait...is it April 1st? ,, but sadly no :( . Brode was such a part of hearthstone...the new expack reveal streams will never be the same without him.
Well met ✌🏾
going MTG Arena
Hearthstone sinks !
Why do you say hearthstone is dying? i think every class as at least one good archetype right now, shaman and warrior were dead in the last expansions
Ben seems cool, but I'm not sure why people are getting downvoted for suggesting that Hearthstone could stand to move in a new direction.... It's been stale for quite some time, and I think it's at once of it's lowest points in terms of quality of experience.
They clearly struggle with what should be routine updates on things like patches or cubelock.... Games like Magic: The Gathering put out paper car sets that can't be regularly updated, and in my 20+ years playing that game, I've experienced maybe 2-3 cards that took over the main formats.... Jace and Delver, I'm lookin' at you....
We've had a card like that in almost ever set. And what's worse, they leave it that way.
There has been no big new features in the game since Dungeon Run, and since then, I can't remember anything. Where's the multiplayer? Card Trading? New and actually interesting brawls?
We're paying premium prices for cards not only so they can develop new cards, but also so they can update the game. There's been nothing now for a long time.
Good luck
Oh, my god. We have a chance for a great changes and again will be great. FeelsGoodMan for new Lead Designer and changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc4cODqVdQs
Just going to leave this here.. made me cry :(
Ben, you always be part of the wild of my hearth... GL!!!
I think because of Ben's awesome contributions to Hearthstone and its community, Blizzard needs to host a special event to commemorate Brode. For example, making Ben Brode a playable hero (in a tavern brawl) with some some insidious but hilarious hero power (like, 2-mana, Laugh at your opponent, turn all of your opponent's minions into 1/1 mini-brodes that laugh and deal 1 damage to a random enemy at the end of your turn).
I dunno - but there must be SOMEthing Blizzard can do.
Way too late for April Fools' Brode!
I wish at least he could stay somewhere at mom Blizz... So sad indeed.
I am now worried he left also because he knows HS is on auto-pilot mode, past its climax in growth and development...
Let's hope it's just coincidence.