Strategy Informer  

Following the now confirmed departure of John Staats, Titan project's senior level designer, rumours of 'mass layoffs' at the developer soon started whipping around the Internet.

Blizzard "out of respect" to staff don't discuss why individuals leave, but the "speculation circulating" of massive layoffs is "just a rumor," affirms the studio. No meltdown at Blizzard.

Worried rumblings started after word that John Staats, a key figure in World of Warcraft's development, had suddenly departed the new Titan project - an MMO based off new IP.

"Hey guys, out of respect for their privacy, we don't discuss individual employees, but the speculation circulating about 'massive layoffs at Blizzard' is just a rumor," said Blizzard's Bashiok on the forums. Staats was described as a "hero of the WoW dev team" by Jeff Kaplan, and had worked there for over 10 years.

Thankfully there's no 'mass layoffs' striking Blizzard teams.

Source: Massively

Related games: World of Warcraft (PC), World of Warcraft: the Burning Crusade (PC), World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC), World of WarCraft: Cataclysm (PC), World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (PC), StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty (PC), Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm (PC)