Blizzard Founders Depart VU Games

Blizzard North co-founders Erich Schaefer, Max Schaefer and David Brevik, and VP Bill Roper departed the company on Monday. These individuals were critical to the development of one of the best-selling PC game series of all times, Diablo. The four cited uncertainties surrounding the fate of Blizzard and VU Games -- that Vivendi was not communicating with them about the company's future plans. In an interview with Chris Roper of CNN/Money, Bill Roper said that Blizzard management "...wanted to be able to have that level of participation and communication with Vivendi and to be able to offer some insight and some knowledge in what they're thinking about in terms of a sale, particularly with Blizzard. And for the four of us, that opportunity wasn't going to be made available." The four are starting a new game studio, as yet unnamed.