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Hearthstone Director Ben Brode Leaves Blizzard
Ben Brode, a fifteen year veteran at Blizzard Entertainment and director of popular digital card game Hearthstone, has announced that he is leaving the company.
Brode joined Blizzard as a tester when he was 20 years old and in 2008 was given the opportunity to join the Hearthstone team, which was then simply known as Team 5.
"There is no team like the Hearthstone team," Brode wrote in a goodbye post. "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."
Brode is leaving to co-found a new company, but details beyond that are sparse at the moment. As the public face of the game, he was often featured in community videos and interviews, as well as constantly engaging with the community in the forums and Hearthstone subreddit.
"I’m looking forward to designing, programming, and actually creating things again," Brode wrote.
Our Take
Hopefully Brode finds success following his dreams. Hearthstone pros on Twitter are already leaving tributes to him and the community outpouring has been decidedly bittersweet, so it's clear Brode had a strong effect on the Hearthstone community.
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