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Geoff Goodman, the lead hero designer for the massive and iconic cast of characters in Overwatch and the upcoming Overwatch 2, has left Blizzard. The company confirmed the departure in a statement to PC Gamer.
The specifics remain unclear, but a Blizzard spokesperson said that Goodman "made the decision to leave Blizzard earlier this year". Goodman's last public appearance in an official capacity was back in June, so it appears that the departure was relatively recent.
Responsible for designing beloved characters like Tracer, Mercy, and D. Va, Goodman also helped with major reworks of Doomfist and Orisa and is presumed to have had a hand in crafting new hero Kiriko.
Goodman's leaving comes in the wake of many high-profile departures for the company, including executive producer Chacko Sonny and producer Tracy Kenney, who both left the company in the past year. A lawsuit alleging "toxic frat boy workplace culture" remains ongoing at publisher Activision Blizzard.
Overwatch 2 is currently slated to launch on 4th October, with the free-to-play game completely replacing the first title. What do you make of Goodman's departure? Design a response in the comments section below.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 15
Another one leaves.
I know this may be unpopular on here, but if Xbox acquires them, I hope they clean up shop and stop the rot.
OW2 seems like a mess right now!
Heroes locked on battlepass, weak rewards, developers leaving...bad decisions all around!
The beta seemed like Overwatch 1.5, but like for real it's the same game with tweaks on the heroes and the change to 5v5 is not good imo!
he designed mei and i think 2 other obnoxiously broken characters so good riddance to him 🤣
@Kienda xbox never fixed anything they acquired . they can’t make anything on their own so what makes you think they can be relied on to fix something .
they killed halo
they killed gears of war
they killed killer instinct
they killed banjo (i don’t care about that)
and i bet the list goes on from franchises that were all made by someone else and ruined by M$
@AFCC Uh , are you sure you played the beta ? 5v5 is the best (balance) change that’s ever happened to overwatch ; and im surprised that it worked because i swear i thought i’d be the LAST person that would ever say 5v5 was good because i hated it when the news first broke out , but it really is good and most of the time you don’t even notice it’s a missing player on both teams because the gameplay is faster and the pace is still quick .
all the other things you said is whatever , but one thing that definitely is better is the graphics , gameplay , and balance . OW1 isn’t balanced at all and never has been , and the gameplay is ***** compared to OW 1.5 .
@nomither6 yes I played the beta. To each their own I guess, but for me the game felt a bit boring and the same! The graphics didn't feel much different from the first game for me
I can’t believe the studio with both extremely awful work culture and has probably the worst reputation in the industry is suffering a talent drain.
@nomither6 okay, I know this is the internet but let’s not be so over dramatic and angry.
Activision-Blizzard has issues that are far more damaging to the industry as a whole. From the frat-boy/sexual misconduct allegations to the fact someone can spend $10,000 in Diablo mobile and get one shot killed by someone who spent $100,000.
You think that’s worse than 343i not including split-screen multiplayer in Halo?
Get a grip, man.
Also, why do you not care about Banjo?
@Kienda “ okay, I know this is the internet ”
yeah , it’s hard to interpret someone’s attitude or tone through letters , but i wasn’t angry when i typed that , and i don’t think listing examples is being dramatic . as far as the scandal goes , i understand the significance of it , but as a consumer/gamer i’m only focused on their products and don’t like to involve politics with (my) entertainment . their predatory practices on the other hand ..well , that’s diablo , thought we were kinda talking about overwatch here …
and 343 did a lot more damage to the franchise than just “split-screen” , come on , let’s not marginalize 10 years of their mishaps .
“get a grip” a grip about what ? i told you i’m not angry
i don’t care about banjo because i’m not interested , i just brought it up as an example
@AFCC yeah , it is overwatch 1.5 than an actual sequel . the changes are minuscule
@nomither6 your comment to me didn’t seem so angry, but clearly you’re up for debate/arguments based on your other comments alongside that.
Anyways, sorry for offending you, but let’s be realistic here. Xbox has not destroyed everything they have touched. And Activision-Blizzard hasn’t always been garbage, but right now both companies need to do some work. But A-B’s problems are far and away more of an issue to the industry as a whole.
Also I don’t understand how you were allowed to mention other franchises Xbox has “killed”, but when I mention another product of Activision-Blizzard to demonstrate why they need reform, we now have to bring it back to Overwatch 2 and can’t mention other games? Anyways…
I’m a massive fan of Activision-Blizzard, particularly the Blizzard side of it. I’ve literally played all their games since the Rock n’ Roll Racing on the Mega Drive. But since they were acquired by Activision, it has mostly been down hill apart from Overwatch.
My concern for what is happening with Overwatch 2 is because of their handling of other franchises just as your concern for Xbox is the handling of some of theirs.
I should point out that Xbox haven’t killed every franchise, Forza, Psychonauts and Flight Simulator were top notch games last year and Halo Infinite wasn’t terrible (but yes it could have been better).
In Overwatch 2 they are looking to make it free to play, pay for characters and adding other battle pass and loot box items. Why? Money. That’s all. And that’s very Activision.
Xbox isn’t perfect but they pride themselves on trying to be good guys in the gaming industry. They want to work with other companies, even rivals. Phil wants his company to be free from sexual misconduct. All of these things are positives. They also try to be fair with their pricing. Rarely do they have micro transactions in their games and Game Pass is insanely good value.
That’s what my “get a grip” comment was about. There is a massive difference between these companies in the way they operate. Activision-Blizzard is part of a big problem that exploits customers for profit in a way that few others do. The fact someone can spend $10,000 in a game is already wrong. The fact they can get one shot by someone who paid more is absolute garbage. And Activision-Blizzard designed it that way. It’s beyond abysmal. Xbox producing some lower quality versions of past games pales in comparison to that.
TL:DR - Activision-Blizzard has a problem with its treatment of its workforce and its negative impact on the industry caused by greed and dodgy business practices that far outweigh anything Xbox is doing.
@Kienda xbox wasn’t always these so called reputable good guys , this is new . they were the ones who started the greatest scam in gaming of all time - paying to use your own internet to connect to game servers online and this outdated practice is still a pain in the ass today . another big scam they did was release millions of broken xbox360 that got the RROD and inflated the sales of hardware that they knew was faulty by a lot . while blizzard does have their greed i don’t think it’s still as severe as M$ , one game affects only those people that play that one game and chose to spend money ; paying to play online affected everyone that plays on console and the RROD fiasco was just straight up evil . When the xbox first came out you even had to pay for the DVD player 😂
sorry we can’t see eye to eye on this , but i’m also not a fan of neither M$ or blizzard , and i’m not interested in the politics going on behind the scenes . i’m just a person that plays everything on anything without the loyalty .
He was too good of a man to stay.
@nomither6 I never claimed Xbox to be perfect or that they don’t have skeletons in their closet.
All I’m saying is I hope the new and hopefully improved version of Xbox can fix the very broken Activision-Blizzard.
Now let’s play games.
@AFCC Not a fan of the battle pass system but will be giving it a go during launch. Looks like it's going to be super grindy if you don't want to spend real money on it. And yes, it does feels more like an update than an actual sequel.
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