Two weeks ago, we reported that Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny had quietly departed ArenaNet last fall. Originally leaked by a troll account on Reddit, the news was confirmed to us by our own sources for our article. ArenaNet did not respond to a request for comment.
In any case, now Mike Z himself has confirmed his big move on his very own Linkedin. According to his page, he became the Live Operations PM at Amazon Game Studios working on Crucible back in November 2019, five months ago – just as we’d estimated. His tenure at ArenaNet apparently came to an end the same month.
It was our understanding that John Taylor became the top game director at ArenaNet in Zadorojny’s stead, but the community still hasn’t heard from him directly. The most recent communication from ArenaNet with an actual developer name on it was earlier this week from a content designer.
The move to Amazon Game Studios should come as no surprise, as it’s been the destination of choice for many former ArenaNet devs, including Colin Johanson, Eric Flannum, Jeff Grubb, Stephen Fowler, and Jon Peters.
In any case, we certainly wish Zadorojny and his replacement the best, though it’s unclear why and frankly disturbing that the community has been left in the dark about the game’s leadership for five months.
In other Guild Wars 2 news, the game is kicking off MightyTeapot’s Masters of the Arena PvP tournament this weekend, with qualifiers beginning tomorrow.
“Teams qualify by playing in the monthly Guild Wars 2 automated tournament. The top six teams from each region will qualify to play in the regional finals, and the top two regional teams will progress to the global finals. Qualification begins on March 28 and ends on May 23. […] All qualifiers will receive gold, and the top teams have a chance to win cash prizes, gold, gems, and more!”
