Diablo 4 boss leaves Blizzard after five-year stint

Rod Fergusson, the general manager of the Diablo franchise who has overseen the launch of Diablo 4 and its Vessel of Hatred expansion, has announced that he's leaving Blizzard. Renowned for his work leading the Gears of War series, he made the switch to Blizzard in 2020 to steer the Diablo ship, but after five years, he's leaving the company for a new challenge.

Given the radical differences in genre between Gears and Diablo, some were surprised at Fergusson's move from The Coalition to Blizzard. However, his experience broadening the scope of Gears of War matched with what Blizzard was wanting to achieve with Diablo 4 - the series' first open-world game. Fergusson lead the last couple of years of Diablo 4's development through Covid, its launch in 2023, and the addition of its Vessel of Hatred DLC last year which added the Spiritborn class. Prior to that, he also oversaw the launches of the Diablo 2 Resurrected remaster in 2021 and free-to-play Diablo Immortal in 2022.

Now, after a very busy tenure, Fergusson is moving on. "After five years of driving the Diablo franchise forward with four big launches, it's time for me to step away from Blizzard/Microsoft, sword in hand, and see what's next," he writes in a post on social media. "The teams are set up for success, with an exciting slate of releases ahead. I'm incredibly proud of what we've built together and looking forward to what comes next for Diablo, and for me."

Fergusson hasn't announced where he's off to next, but speculation is already rife. Some are wondering if a return to the Gears franchise may happen, but it's worth noting that his message states he is leaving Microsoft, more broadly - Gears developer The Coalition is of course a Microsoft first-party studio.

The leading theory - and the one I'd put my money on, personally - is that he may return to the Bioshock series and help the struggling Bioshock 4. Fergusson worked at Irrational Games for a short stint to help get Bioshock Infinite over the line, leaving the company soon after its launch. Bioshock 4 has now been stuck in development turmoil for years, and just last week it was revealed that developer Cloud Chamber was getting a major shakeup after the game failed to impress executives.

That shakeup has seen Bioshock 4's creative director, Hogarth de la Plante, and Cloud Chamber's long-serving studio head, Kelley Gilmore, move away from the project. Fergusson famously had two stints on the Gears franchise, maybe the same is about to happen with Bioshock? That is of course just speculation - the changes at Cloud Chamber and Fergusson's departure from Blizzard could be purely coincidental.

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