Blizzard Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo announces his departure from company

Rob Pardo, Chief Creative Officer for Blizzard Entertainment, announced today that he is leaving the company.

"Every ending is a beginning and today marks a new beginning for me," Pardo announced on Battle.net. "After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career."

Prior to becoming Blizzard's Chief Creative Officer, Pardo served as a game designer on StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 3. He also worked as Blizzard's Executive Vice President of game design and helped with the upcoming World of Warcraft film.

"I’m really proud of the contributions I was able to make to Blizzard’s accomplishments. From building lasting games, to supporting the growth of eSports, to extending the Warcraft world into a feature film, and of course to being able to celebrate our shared passions with the Blizzard community online and at BlizzCon," he continued.

Pardo admits that he doesn't yet know what he'll be doing next, but that he'll spend the summer with his family and playing plenty of games.

"The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality," he concluded, fittingly comparing the current industry to "having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time."