Rob Pardo Leaving Blizzard as Chief Creative Officer

After 17 years, he is moving on to a new challenge that he will announce sometime later … “when it’s ready.”

Blizzard Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo is leaving the company to pursue an as yet unannounced opportunity, but he promises to let everyone know “when it’s ready.”

“My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what’s next,” he said in announcement to fans on the official site. “The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It’s like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.”

Pardo gave the usual platitudes to the company and fans for making his time at Blizzard memorable. “I’m really proud of the contributions I was able to make to Blizzard’s accomplishments. From building lasting games, to supporting the growth of eSports, to extending the Warcraft world into a feature film, and of course to being able to celebrate our shared passions with the Blizzard community online and at BlizzCon.”

Prior to becoming the CCO at Blizzard, Pardo was well known for his work as lead designer on World of Warcraft and it’s expansions, as well as the Warcraft 3 expansions. He also had his hand in the Diablo and StarCraft franchises, first working on the original StarCraft when he joined the company in 1997.

Pardo was even parodied in the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft in 2006, the same year he was named one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

“I’m looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard,” he said in his departure note. “It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.”

He asked fans to keep up with him on Twitter via @Rob_Pardo.