Ever since Bobby Kotick removed J. Allen Brack from his post atop Blizzard and replaced him with Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal in the wake of the sexual discrimination and harassment lawsuit, gamers have wondered who exactly is running the show at World of Warcraft. According to Ybarra himself, it’s still the person who was running it before: Game Director Ion Hazzikostas.
Ybarra clarified the hierarchy in response to player tweets asserting that “Mike’s in charge,” asking for specific features, and shading Blizzard’s communication.
“Ion runs WoW, not me,” he said.
“It’s fine to tag folks, and I love community feedback. I just don’t want people thinking I make decisions, Ion is amazing and he is reading community stuff all the time. He decides on WoW with his team. I’m only input just like all of you! :)”
The implication here is that Hazzikostas and the existing WoW team, not the outside execs brought in last month, are responsible for the “ripcord” changes on deck, but that of course will only make you wonder why these changes weren’t made long ago.
