暴雪三大创始人及Bill Roper离开创造Diablo系列经典游戏的Blizzard North工作室另寻其它机会。
据路透社报道，四位暴雪主要高层人员已经离开公司找寻其它的机会。暴雪娱乐对路透社透露，Blizzard North工作室的三大创始人Erich Schaefer、Max Schaefer和David Brevik及暴雪副总裁Bill Roper最近离开公司。此前有传闻称VU Games高层正计划出售下属Vivendi Universal公司的游戏部门，其中包括暴雪，这传言影响了公司员工对公司的信心。
Brevik和Schaefer兄弟从1993年开始创业，并在1995年初带领暴雪开始创作Diablo。工作室于1996年二月改名为Blizzard North。
著名游戏网站Gamespot.com为此事电话访问了原暴雪副总裁Bill Roper，以下是来自Gamespot.com的最新新闻：
我们与Blizzard North副总裁Bill Roper进行了一次对话，内容是关于突然离开暴雪后的新计划。
今天早些时候，暴雪娱乐透露Blizzard North三大创始人Erich Schaefer、Max Schaefer和David Brevik，还有副总裁Bill Roper离开负责Diablo系列开发的工作室的消息，该系列全球销量超过一千万份。四位主要人物一直管理着Blizzard North，Brevik任总裁，其它几位任副总裁。我们在今天下午通过电话与Bill Roper进行了访问，取得了他对此事的看法及他们创建新游戏公司的计划。
这个消息对于Diablo的玩家来说真是晴天霹雳，当然他们也可能更关心为什么会如此快的决定离开。Roper说如此快的做出这个离开的决定是由于一系列非常紧急的事件。而他们也将在明天早上第一时间聚集在一起深入的讨论新公司计划。就目前情况来看他们将开始一个新的游戏项目。
Roper还透露：“我们做出了一个非常困难的决定。因为我们爱Blizzard的每一个人……包括在San Mateo的办公室，还有在Irvine(欧文市)的Blizzard。”
当问到Vivendi Universal的高层在这次事件中扮演了什么角色时，Roper承认离开的决定有很大一部分是因为这个母公司，他说：“我们只是希望在制定工作室的主导方向时，尽可能的把我们的想法考虑进去。人们非常关心我们的工作，我们需要和他们谈以让他们了解我们的想法并知道我们的方向。”但在更多的谈到Blizzard的情况时他说：“我们都在在面对同样的挑战，我相信他们将会应付得更好。我们在一个非常好的时期离开了，我们也期待着Blizzard继续开发更好的游戏。”
这个团队集体的未来并不会局限与工作合同或是无竞争协议上。Roper说不会有任何事情能“让我们在继续我们所要走的路上停下来”。因为缺乏类似的法律约束，新的游戏公司可以在未来的某个时刻雇佣现在的Blizzard的职员。
Roper再三强调在即将展开新的计划之前这个团队集体有多么的兴奋。依照Roper的说法，这四个人被描述成为极为紧密和富有创造性的一个团队集体，Schaefer兄弟是训练有素的设计师，同时Brevik也是富有经验的程序师，他们都曾经是Blizzard系统中某部分的项目领导者及设计师。
一个新公司的将能给他们充分创新的自由，而事实上，Roper他们真的有太多的想法，并且将在整理后找出最棒的一个。他同样承认“我们非常喜欢交流并公开自己的想法”，对此有兴趣的人能够打以下电话到公司与他们交流：650-207-6030(请不要打骚扰电话，只接受有意义的询问)
他们的新公司下一步要做的是决定一个名称，并且建设一个官方网站，我们衷心的期待在不远的将来会有这个新公司的更多资料公布出来。
原文:
We speak to former Blizzard North vice-president Bill Roper about the sudden departure of the studio’s management and these former Blizzard employees’ new plans.
Earlier today, Blizzard Entertainment revealed that the Blizzard North cofounders Erich Schaefer, Max Schaefer, and David Brevik, plus Blizzard vice president Bill Roper, have left the studio responsible for the Diablo series, which has sold more than 10 million units worldwide. The four held the key management positions at Blizzard North, with Brevik as president and the others holding vice-president titles. We talked with Bill Roper on the phone this afternoon to get his perspective on the group’s departure and their plans to form a new game company.
As surprising as the announcement may be for fans of the Diablo games, it may be even more surprising to know how quickly thesgroupsmade the decision to leave. Roper said that the departures were the result of a series of very quick events. Indeed, the first time thesgroupswill meet to discuss their company plans in depth will be tomorrow morning. But what they do know for sure is that they want to start a new game project.
Roper said, "We made a very difficult decision. We love everyone at Blizzard... at the San Mateo office and at Blizzard in Irvine." And in addition to this personal well-wishing, he did reveal other reasons for wanting to see Blizzard North continue on, and said, "I want to play Diablo."
Asked what role Vivendi Universal’s corporate management had to play in the decision, Roper admitted that was a big part of it: "We wanted to have a level of involvement [in deciding the studio’s direction] that was not going to be made available. For the interests of the people that we work with, we should have been able to talk to the people that make the decisions and that knew what was going on." But in further describing Blizzard’s situation, he said, "It’s the same challenges we always faced. I have absolutely no doubt that they will keep fighting the good fight. We tried to leave them in a good place, and I honestly expect that Blizzard will continue to make great games."
The group’s future isn’t limited by employment contracts or non-compete agreements. Roper said that there’s nothing "to stop us from approaching this any way we’d want." Lacking such legal constraints, the new game company may hire current Blizzard employees at some point in the future.
Roper repeatedly mentioned how very excited thesgroupsis at the possibilities that lie ahead. The four have worked as a very tight knit creative group, according to Roper. The Schaefer brothers are artists by training and Brevik is a programmer, and all have been project leads and designers as a part of Blizzard’s philosophy that has developers wearing many hats.
Starting over as a "lean and mean" company will grant them new creative freedom. In fact, Roper is sure that they’ll initially come with too many ideas and will have to trim back to find the great one. He also admitted, "We’d love to be talking with publishers" and mentioned that interested parties could get in touch on the company cell phone at 650-207-6030 (serious inquiries only, please).
The company’s next steps are to decide on a name and set up a Web site. We can expect to hear more concrete details on the company’s future plans very soon.
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