Diablo and Overwatch Take a Massive Hit Despite Recent Assurances by Activision Blizzard

Published 08/12/2021, 1:39 PM EDT

Follow Us

Over the past few weeks, gaming giants Activision Blizzard have taken a massive hit with their reputation. The company is facing a lawsuit filed by the state of California following allegations of harassment faced by the employees. The harassment issues and complaints became public recently after employees called foul about the toxic frat boy culture in the company.

Following the lawsuit, many allegations have popped up against executives and members of the staff. This has caused the departures of some developers, which has caused major problems for the development of new titles. The company has a lot of new games in the pipeline, including the ones from popular franchises like Diablo and Overwatch.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

 Activision Blizzard sees the departure of leading developers amidst allegations

Kotaku recently reported the departure of some of the biggest developers from the company. A couple of employees from this group had a hand in the development of the latest iteration of the iconic hack and slash Action-RPG series in Diablo. Fans have heard little about the new title in Diablo IV since the developers announced it in 2019.

The company recently had their quarterly financial investors call where they announced a major management shuffle. The new heads at Blizzard even assured investors about significant progress being made for the development of new titles. This includes the much hyped Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. However, the exit of Diablo IV’s game director in Luis Barriga puts a massive spanner in the title’s development.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Jesse McCree of Overwatch fame also let go

Along with Barriga, Activision Blizzard also axed two more employees in lead designer Jesse McCree and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft. Fans know about McCree as he was the inspiration behind one of the characters in Overwatch. He recently joined the development team of Diablo IV before his exit from the American video game developers. Activision Blizzard have revealed no details about the reasoning behind their departure yet.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

It’s a massive change for the company as three major developers depart. It remains to be seen how Activision Blizzard will cope with the lawsuits and the walkouts from employees. However, it seems like the fans will feel the effect massively as the development times for long-awaited titles keep on increasing.

WATCH THIS STORY- Call of Duty: Warzone vs Fortnite: Which Is the Better Battle Royale Game?

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Rupesh Nair

1,028Articles

One take at a time

Rupesh is an eSports author at EssentiallySports. Currently a student at Mumbai University, he has been involved with eSports since his childhood. Having played titles like Fallout 4, Minecraft, FIFA, Portal 2 and Halo 4 extensively, Rupesh has a deep understanding of the sport.
Show More>