Thwarted StarCraft modder wins job offer

By Fred Dutton Published 20 January, 2011

Impressed League of Legends dev swoops.

It's been a real bad news/good news week for the modder behind a much-publicised StarCraft II mod. While he was left nursing his wounds yesterday after Blizzard's lawyers stamped on his World of StarCraft confection, today he's popping corks after winning a job offer from Riot Games.

According to Massively, League of Legends lead designer and former Blizzard employee Tod Cadwell saw the mod and duly tracked down its creator, who goes by the name of 'Ryan', via Pixelated Geek with an offer of employment in tow.

"When I see a modder with a lot of drive that has done something cool, I tend to contact them," Cadwell explained on the League of Legends forum.

"I shot him an email recently asking if he was interested in exploring an opportunity here. As to what comes of that, who knows - that depends on the mutual fit and his own goals."

YouTube clips of Ryan's StarCraft II mod, which you can check out below, attracted copyright infringement notices from Blizzard's legal team earlier this week.

"You created a tool that allowed us to do anything with your assets," he angrily responded. "You encouraged us to use your assets and were eager to see what we might come up with. You had to have seen this coming?"

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (10) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rajin #1 1 year ago

    Next anouncement Blizzard: Starcraft MMO-Shooter expected to release in 2014

  • darkmorgado #2 1 year ago

    You didn't read the article, did you?

    League of Legends lead designer and FORMER Blizzard employee
    Edited by darkmorgado at 20/01/11 @ 23:50

  • sonsonate #3 1 year ago

    Why stifle creativity? Oh right, we can, can, can!

    Well, he's got a job now, so good for him.
    Edited by sonsonate at 21/01/11 @ 02:55

  • ubergine #4 1 year ago

    Blictivision seems to be at odds with itself over things like this. I'm not sure the old run of super-developers, Valve, Id, Blizzard, would have come down on this, at least not without first seeing how they could absorb the developer into their biomass.

    How long can it be before any credible part of Blizzard starts to strain against Activision's division of incredible lawyers? More to the point, would they dare? Does WoW make enough money to take Booby Kotick to court?

  • levitate #5 1 year ago

    I'm glad someone picked up on his talents. The only things ActiBlizzard wants these days is more money in Kotick's pockets and more shinies in his scrooge valve no matter what it takes.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #6 1 year ago

    As a former Blizzard employee you really cannot be sure if he used parts of code he has once written for Blizzard and thus would not be allowed to use that code now that he is not working for Blizzard anymore; Or maybe he used some textures that were created at Blizzard, who knows.

    Still, this is a brilliant example of how versatile the editor is. If Blizzard learned anything from mods they should know that things like this sell their game just as much as their original work does. Look at what Defense of the Ancients has done to Warcraft 3. I wouldn't be surprised if almost all of the WC3 sales in the last two years can be credited to DotA.

  • Canyarion #7 1 year ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil......... The guy who made the mod isn't a former Blizzard employee. The guy who offered him a job is.

    I think the modder would have preferred a job offer by Blizzard.

  • butler` #8 1 year ago

    I think the modder would have preferred a job offer by Blizzard.

    Blizzard are a bit beyond hiring modders -- even the best of 'em. They can take the cream off the top of the industry at a moment's grace.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #9 1 year ago

    @Canyarion: Stupid me, misread the sentence. Oh well, it's just because of the name of the mod, so everything is fine after all anyway.

  • Nuronv #10 1 year ago

    Can you report what Blizzards actual statement was regarding the mod?