Ben Brode
Ben Brode | |
|---|---|
.png) Brode at BlizzCon 2013 | |
| Occupation | Video game designer |
| Employer(s) | Blizzard Inc. (2003–2018) Second Dinner (2018–present) |
| Known for | Lead designer of Hearthstone (2015–2018) |
Ben Brode is an American video game designer. He was the game director and public face of Hearthstone until 2018 when he left to found his own game studio, Second Dinner, where he is now Chief Creative Officer.
Life and career
Brode joined Blizzard Entertainment as a video game tester at the age of 20, working on Warcraft III and World of Warcraft, a position in which he worked for a total of 18 months before becoming Environment Test Lead.[1][2] During his work testing these games he spent time making custom maps for Warcraft III, one of which became 'Map of the Week' and was released to the wider community. Brode began looking for a new position at Blizzard, including applying for a position as a designer on StarCraft II, before finding himself in a creative position on the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.[2]
Brode became lead designer of Hearthstone in 2015, and was promoted to game director later in the year.[2] While working on Hearthstone, Brode was the public face of the game, giving interviews,[3] responding to player feedback, explaining game concepts,[4] and providing updates on the game's development.[2][5][6] When the Journey To Un'Goro expansion was released without an accompanying song, he recorded his own at the community's request.[7]
After 15 years working at Blizzard, Brode left the company in 2018 to start his own game development studio called Second Dinner along with several other ex-Blizzard employees.[1][8][9] In 2019 the company announced that it had received a US$30 million investment from NetEase, along with the license to create a mobile game for Marvel.[3]
References
- ^ a b Chalk, Andy (20 April 2018). "Hearthstone game director Ben Brode is leaving Blizzard". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d Winkie, Luke (31 January 2018). "The unstoppable rise of Hearthstone's Ben Brode". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ a b Wilson, Jason (3 January 2019). "Ben Brode's Second Dinner orders a Marvel license and $30 million from NetEase". VentureBeat. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Wilson, Jason (9 October 2017). "Hearthstone boss Ben Brode gives me new insight on what 'casual' means". VentureBeat. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Prescott, Shaun (9 August 2016). "Hearthstone lead designer explains why new Priest card is so bad". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ "Hearthstone's Ben Brode: "If you knew how good a card is by looking at it, we wouldn't need a balance team"". PC Gamer. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Winkie, Luke (5 August 2019). "Every Hearthstone expansion ranked by its theme song". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Wood, Austin (12 July 2018). "Ben Brode's new studio is called Second Dinner". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (3 January 2019). "A Bunch Of Former Top Hearthstone Designers Are Making A Marvel Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 5 September 2019.