World of Warcraft’s lead game director, Tom Chilton, has officially announced that he’ll be leaving the the age-old MMO team, after 12 years of consistently working on it in various distinct roles.
In a Battle.net forum post earlier today, Chilton stated that while he’s leaving World of Warcraft, he’ll still be working at Blizzard on an undisclosed project. The Current lead game designer for WoW, Ion Hazzikostas, will be promoted to Chilton’s former role as game director.
My personal journey working on WoW as Game Director is at an end, but my journey with Blizzard isn’t, I’ll still be here, but will be focusing on another project within the company.
I know that WoW will be in great hands with Ion at the helm, he’s been an integral part of the team for more than eight years and has contributed to so many aspects of the game’s development—from class design to encounter design and nearly everything in between. He also has an amazing team at his side—the same epic crew that brought you all the content you’re enjoying in Legion.
says Chilton in his statement.
Chilton has spent a good long twelve years working in this field. Before he joined Blizzard in 2004, he worked on EA’s Ultima Online. It’s currently unclear whether Chilton is shifting on to an existing Blizzard project or a brand new one, though he leaves WoW with the game at a stable level, with August’s Legion expansion among the most highly praised expansions yet.
For me, Legion has been more than just another expansion… it’s the culmination of more than a decade of work with one of the best development teams I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part of,
he added.
There should be an update soon as to what Blizzard is working on next for their portfolio and if Chilton will be a part of it and as soon as there is one, you’ll find it here so stay tuned.
