Blizzard Co-Founder Mike Morhaime Steps Down as President

Activision Blizzard announced that a new president will be taking over Blizzard Entertainment today. World of Warcraft executive producer and 12 year veteran of Blizzard J. Allen Brack will be taking over from longtime Blizzard president, CEO, and co-founder Mike Morhaime.

"J. has been with Blizzard for over 12 years leading the World of Warcraft team, and it takes vision, creativity and unwavering commitment to excellence to sustain a community of players the way J. has for over a decade," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said today in a statement. Morhaime will still serve as a strategic advisor to the company.

In a statement to the Blizzard community Mike Morhaime writes, "After many years of working with some of the industry's most talented people to create games and world for you to play in, I've decided it's time for someone else to lead Blizzard Entertainment. I will now serve as an advisor to the company I so love and admire." Morhaime writes at the end, "It has been an honor to serve this community for over 27 years, and I thank you for your many years of support. I look forward to being a member of the community alongside you. See you on Battle.net!"

In addition to Brack stepping up as president Activision Blizzard announced that 10-year Blizzard veteran Ray Gresko will join the leadership team as chief development officer. Gresko helped create both Overwatch and Diablo 3. Meanwhile, original co-founder and lead designer of World of Warcraft Allen Adham will also joint he executive team. Interestingly, Brack says Adham will continue "to oversee development of several new games."

There is at least one unannounced game at Blizzard according to job listings, but there's no doubt the company is working on many different projects. Most recently Blizzard released the Battle for Azeroth expansion to World of Warcraft, and are working on bringing back classic servers to the long-running MMORPG.