ALL THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PC GAMES

News

Ex-Blizzard bosses form new studio Magic Soup Games

Ex-Blizzard bosses form new studio Magic Soup Games

Former Blizzard leadership Jen Oneal, J. Allen Brack and John Donham (pictured right, left to right) have founded a brand new studio called Magic Soup Games.

The venture is working on a new triple-A game with the aim of being inclusive for players globally. Oneal was one of the co-heads of Blizzard following Brack's departure from the company in the wake of the damning DFEH lawsuit against the studio. She also left because she was being paid less than her fellow co-head Mike Ybarra.

Donham spent just over a year at Blizzard between August 2019 and September 2020, departing to work as a general manager of Amazon's games business. He had previously spent time at Sony Online Entertainment and Disney.

"J., John, and I have similar ideas about the types of games we want to make, and we're tightly aligned on company goals and principles, so this was a natural fit for us," Oneal said.

"We know the quality of our games will be a reflection of our team culture. We're doing the work up front to make sure we're fostering creativity, fully remote collaboration, and a diversity of backgrounds."

Brack added: "Jen has great experience as a team builder, culture driver, and game maker. John and I are thrilled that she's helming the company. John has decades of experience in both games and startups, and will run operations. I'm excited to wake up every day and focus on game development with the team. The three of us look forward to the kinds of games and teams we'll build in the coming years."


Tags:
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.