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32-year Blizzard vet Didier leaves the company

32-year Blizzard vet Didier leaves the company

Long-time Blizzard employee Samwise Didier has left the company.

The senior art director revealed the news on Twitter, saying that he was leaving as of November 10th. Didier joined Blizzard – then known as Silicon and Synapse – back in 1991 and has had a massive influence on the company. He is credited with coming up with the Warcraft name, as well as his impact on the company's art style.

Didier has contributed to a large number of Blizzard's titles, including Diablo 2, Overwatch and Starcraft 2.

"Today is a huge day for me and I wanted to share the news with you all," he wrote.

"I am retiring from my beloved Blizzard Entertainment, and today will be my last day. Now most kids I know move out of the home when they are 18, (well, maybe not these days). For me, it took me damn near double that! It is inspiring and intimidating all at the same time.

"Blizzard was never just a job for me. I joined the company in 1991 and it immediately became my second home. I found out I had family that I didn't even know I had! I grew up there. I learned almost everything I know about art there. I learned how to use a company (I know knew Atari 2600 and Nintendo), I learned how to use Photoshop, I learned how to create UI and make thousands of buttons. I learned how to create 3D models of my art, how to texture and animate them, and even make them shoot fireballs or lasers. I got see my art come to life! Hell, I even joined my first band at Blizzard. And to top it all off, I got to work on some of the greatest games this here ol' world has ever known. Thank you Blizzard, for everything."

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra added: "Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for Blizzard, Sammy! Your talent helped build Blizzard’s signature art style, and I know many of our artists have learned so much from you over the years. Thanks for what you did for them, and for gamers and artists everywhere. Congrats on your retirement."


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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.