Among the many people affected by Blizzard’s massive layoffs in 2024 was Christie Golden, the rare games writer whose name a whole lot of MMORPG players will recognize whether or not they play Blizzard games. That’s because it’s Christie Golden who penned 13 World of Warcraft and five StarCraft novels and worked with the IP for 25 years. Wowhead credits her for being the brain behind many World of Warcraft cinematics, co-introducing the character Thrall, and consulting on everything from Overwatch to Diablo Immortal.
Golden was apparently told she was being laid off from the Story & Franchise Development team back in January, when Blizzard and Microsoft wrestled over who’d take the blame for jettisoning more than 800 workers from Activision-Blizzard. It sounds like the timing was extra cruel for Golden, as her layoff was followed by the death of a young family member a day later (which is why she didn’t speak out until now).
Her message to coworkers and players yesterday was beyond gracious, and it sounds as if she has plenty of opportunities ahead of her now that she’s freed from Blizzard. However, it’s hard to imagine the IP will ever be the same going forward, and it certainly prompts worrisome questions about Blizzard’s thought processes and priorities as it tries to dig World of Warcraft out of the holes it’s in.
— Christie Golden (@ChristieGolden) April 29, 2024
