Blizzard departures add up

Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine, California-based developer of the current megahit World of Warcraft, has lost three additional staffers. Mark Kern, William Petras, and Taewon Yun announced today they had founded Red 5 Studios Inc., to be based in Aliso Veijo, California. The new studio will focus on "massively multiplayer online entertainment" according to a statement. Previously, Kern was team lead on World of Warcraft, Petras art-directed the title, and Yun was part of the Blizzard team that founded the company's Korean operation. "Our work on World of Warcraft has really opened up people's eyes to the potential of online gaming," Kern said. "We want to continue to shape the future of online gaming by tapping into new worldwide trends and pushing the limits of our creativity." The departures are the latest in a long string of defections at Blizzard. Earlier this week, Blizzard North tech director Rick Seis signed on with the Castaway Entertainment team, itself made up of former Blizzard staffers who left in July 2003.