Diablo 4 director, lead level designer, and WoW designer depart Blizzard

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The sudden departures come during a major lawsuit over Activision Blizzard's company culture.

An image of the front gate to Blizzard's corporate headquarters in Irvine, California.
(Image credit: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Diablo 4 game director Louis Barriga, lead level designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft are all out at Blizzard Entertainment. The news was first reported by Kotaku and then confirmed by Activision Blizzard.

"We can confirm Luis Barriga, Jesse McCree, and Jonathan LeCraft are no longer with the company," a representative said. "We have a deep, talented roster of developers already in place and new leaders have been assigned where appropriate. We are confident in our ability to continue progress, deliver amazing experiences to our players, and move forward to ensure a safe, productive work environment for all.”

A source at Blizzard also told PC Gamer that the senior developers are no longer in Blizzard's internal employee directory. 

Jesse McCree was a lead level designer at Blizzard, working on Diablo 3 and multiple World of Warcraft expansions. McCree had been employed since December 2005, according to his LinkedIn page. He's apparently the namesake of Overwatch character Jesse McCree, and his involvement in the "Cosby Suite" group chats documented by Kotaku led some Overwatch fans to ask the name of the character be changed. McCree also has at least five characters in World of Warcraft named after himself.

Jonathan Bolding
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.