Blizzard cools Northern outpost
Cue Diablo III rumours, oddly.
World of Warcraft developer Blizzard has consolidated its operations by closing its Blizzard North office and offering relocation packages to those staffers working on "an unannounced project" at the Bay Area subsidiary.
Blizzard president Mike Mohraime said the move would "improve our efficiency as a company" by bringing its PC development teams into closer contact at its Irvine, California-based headquarters.
It's not known how many employees were affected by the decision, but Blizzard North had endured a number of high profile departures, with the likes of David Brevik, Erich and Max Schaefer, Bill Roper and brothers Stefan and Mike Scandizzo exiting the company in recent years to set-up their own studios.
Attention is now turning to the "unannounced project" that was underway at Blizzard North, with most headline-writers speculating that it could be Diablo III. Nobody's really sure, of course, because Vivendi-Universal-owned Blizzard have never been ones to talk about things before they were happy with them. Presumably we'll know when they feel like telling us.