Earlier this year it was announced that Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime would be stepping down as Blizzard president, after 27 years straight with the company. And to say farewell, Blizzard got the crowd involved.
Strewn throughout the seats at Blizzcon were a series of cards, glow sticks and wifflebats. The latter two are fairly standard for conventions and Blizzcon, but what was different this year was the organisation behind it.
While attendees flooded into the stage, a Blizzard representative gave some basic instructions from the stage. At roughly 1107 local time, Morhaime would hand over the stage to the new Blizzard president, World of Warcraft executive producer J. Allen Brack. At that point, the crowd would then get involved.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/10/blizzard-president-mike-morhaime-departs-j-allen-brack-takes-over/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/blizzcon-2017-mike-morhaime-1-410×231.jpg” title=”Blizzard President Mike Morhaime Steps Down, J. Allen Brack Takes Over” excerpt=”In a release this morning, Activision Blizzard has announced that Blizzard president Mike Morhaime will be replaced in his role by World of Warcraft executive producer J. Allen Brack.”]
The most interesting item on the floor was a series of “stunt cards”, a photo of which is posted above. The cards each had a little slot cut out for people to look through.
The front of the cards was blank. Would they light up during the show? Would all the cards combine to say something? The crowd never found out what the cards spelled; a shot of the message was never displayed on screen, only Brack and Morhaime hugging.
“What a great moment,” Brack mentioned.
A Blizzard representative later said that the message read “Thank You”, a nice way for Morhaime to leave the stage. It would have been cool if everyone involved got to see the fruits of their labour, but it’s neat that the crowd got to play a part regardless.
The author travelled to Blizzcon as a guest of Blizzard.
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