Game studio denies co-founder"s exit was a response to Vivendi"s decision to maintain ownership.
As first revealed on Warcraft fan site worldofwar.net, Blizzard co-founder and vice president Allen Adham has left the company. A Blizzard spokesperson confirmed the departure, but denied it was related to Vivendi"s recent reaffirmation of ownership of the developer, as some have speculated. The spokesperson said Adham stepped down due to the cumulative effects of "working the long hours and doing the game crunch for many years." The spokesperson added "he"s not cutting ties completely," and will remain a consultant to Blizzard.
In an e-mail Adham circulated internally to his now-former colleagues, he expressed a desire to pursue a position in finance. He emphasized that there was no single company he was leaving Blizzard to work for, nor any single business he had committed to starting.