A black day for WoW: Blizzard fires an important author

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Players and fans comment on a decision by Activision Blizzard with a lot of incomprehension: As has now been announced, Blizzard fired Christie Golden in January, who many consider to be one of the most talented authors and storytellers in gaming. Golden has been associated with Blizzard for 25 years and has been a permanent employee since 2017. She worked on WoW and Starcraft, among other things. She is also an award-winning, bestselling author. Apparently it became a victim of Blizzard’s merger with Microsoft.

That’s what Golden says:

  • In a tweet, the author says she was laid off at the end of January. Shortly after being released, she learned that her nephew had died of cancer. She wanted to digest these two blows of fate in quick succession, which is why she is only now talking about her dismissal.
  • At Blizzard she wrote cinematics, song lyrics and short stories for all Blizzard games.
  • Although the dismissal was a shock for her, after all, she had been associated with Blizzard for almost 25 years, she was overwhelmed by the love and support of her colleagues. She will now turn to new projects.

    • Among other things, Golden was responsible for the story of Sylvanas during WoW: Shadowlands – she even received death threats for that.

    WoW Shadowlands Cinematic – Sylvanas vs Bolvar

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    “Without a doubt shaped the face and feel of WoW”

    Why is the decision so surprising?? Christie Golden is considered by many fans to be a centerpiece of WoW history. She is currently credited and revered for the World of Warcraft cinematics.

    The site wowhead writes: At WoW, she was responsible, among other things, for many in-game cinematics for Battle for Azeroth, the Anduin/Sylvanas cinematics for Shadowlands and the short film “The Afterlive”.

    Golden has written many novels set in the world of World of Wacraft:

    I am so sorry to hear about happened to you and you have my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your loved one.

    I have read and enjoyed many of your books over the years! Your perspective will be missed (the narrative is already taking a hit, literally in the case of Dalaran). pic.twitter.com/tLdkcHudPh

    — Plamen Novakov (@Plamen_Novakov) April 30, 2024

    She is responsible for characters like Anduin, Draka, Dagran and Baine and introduced Thrall, “Green Jesus”, into the world together with Chris Metzen.

    According to wowhead, Golden would undoubtedly have shaped the face and feel of WoW.

    A lot of incomprehension for the dismissal

    What are the reactions?? The reactions to the dismissal are very negative. Apparently Golden and its 1,900 employees were laid off in January after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard.

    The dismissal is discussed cynically in the comments. You ask (via mop):

  • Whether you lay off the best creative people because you are no longer planning anything creative anyway
  • Or whether Microsoft might want to increase the budget for ChatGPT
  • Some also say that they are happy for them: a person with so much talent deserves better than having to keep saving WoW’s meta-plot

    • Many fans were obviously looking forward to a collaboration with Chris Metzen.

    Some WoW fans react toxically

    Are there also dissenting voices? There are also some who make disparaging comments about Golden and blame her for story decisions in WoW: Some people don’t like the story direction that WoW took after Legion. Too many Horde figures would be assassinated.

    However, this attribution of blame is largely contradicted in forums: Anyone who says something like that has no idea. Golden had no influence on the direction of the story.

    In 2017, Blizzard’s MeinMMO expert Cortyn was pleased about Golden’s permanent position:

    WoW, Overwatch: More story! Author Christie Golden joins Blizzard



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