Meet Zac Pfaff, Senior Designer I 🔥 "I always wanted to bring my creativity to the world. I grew up playing many classic Nintendo games. The magic of those games inspired me to dabble in pixel art on my parent’s PC. That snowballed into a thirst for technology. I studied animation in college, but left before graduating to find work in gaming. Unfortunately, I had an experience where a previous employer in the industry chose to let me go because I was gay. This made me question whether there was room for me in gaming. Being my true self is something I couldn’t give up, but it did make me hesitant to be out at work. Everything changed when a close friend moved to Blizzard and recommended me for a mobile design position. I fell in love with the quirky and fun culture as soon as I walked through the front gates. The passion everyone pours into their work is contagious and inspiring. I’ve now worked in mobile app, game, and web design on nearly every game here. I’ve also had the immense joy and privilege of starting the LGBT and Friends mailing list for my colleagues here. This has grown to be a huge success, and was the first step in the creation of Blizzard’s LGBT+ Network Leadership Team. As someone who experienced a tumultuous coming out when I was younger, and discrimination in a previous workplace, I’m so proud to play a role in creating an environment that is so welcoming and supportive. I feel that visibility and exposure do a lot to create a culture of acceptance. So let the color of your character shine bright, and that will open doors for you." #BlizzardPride
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Meet the adventurers bringing the world of Diablo IV to life.🔥 Do you have what it takes to be a part of Sanctuary? Join our talent community to stay up to date on open roles, news, and more. 👉 https://lnkd.in/g2Y9Fmff
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Meet Lauren Soanes, Game Producer on Overwatch 2 🦊 “For me, Pride is about visibility. I’m fortunate to work at a company that is so supportive of people, with a culture that welcomes and celebrates everyone for who they are. I know that not everyone is in this position, so I hope my openness can be a safe place for anyone reading this who needs it. I’ve worked in animation for most of my career. In 2016, the “Alive” cinematic introduced me to Overwatch, and my life changed. I saw the passion the players had for these games. I knew then I wanted to share my art with that community. I told myself “one day,” …and in 2021, I got to say “day one!” I started out producing cinematics. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to work on the Kiriko cinematic for Overwatch 2, the Inarius and Lilith final confrontation in Diablo IV, and more recently, the World of Warcraft: The War Within announcement trailer. Now I’m on the Overwatch 2 team, and I’m the Mythic producer. It’s a little surreal! The first time I saw my favorite streamer equip a Mythic Mercy skin, I cried. Blizzard’s culture is something special. You can’t replicate it. Everyone here has boundless enthusiasm for our games. And my colleagues just happen to be the best in their field. I get to come to work and help this dream team conjure up the coolest things they can imagine – and they do! If you’re looking for tips to get into the gaming industry, I would say be specific in what you want to do. Figure out what interests you and then learn as much as you can about it. Some people looking to break in try and do a bit of everything, but it’s more useful to be specialized.” #BlizzardPride
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Get ready for our first Gamescom as part of Team Xbox. ❄️ We invite you to join us August 21-25. Stay tuned for more information! #XboxGamescom
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Did you know that Blizzard Irvine has a museum? 🖼️ While not open to the public, it has been a key part of campus tours since opening here in 2007. The museum has rotating themes based on Blizzard's history, universes, and game launches, and is curated by our archives team. Right now, the museum is celebrating Diablo! 🔥 What do you think the next theme will be?
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🌈 Honoring Pride at Blizzard! 🌈 The last few weeks, our LGBT+ Employee Network has hosted a series of empowering events to celebrate authenticity, appreciation, and unity. These events have included the Irvine Pride flag raising to provide visibility, inclusive mixers at multiple campuses to foster unity, and participating in local Pride events around the US to build community! 🌞
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Guess who’s back, back again 🩷 Overwatch 2 and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) are teaming up to bring back Pink Mercy! Overwatch 2’s “Mercy for a Cause” campaign launching on June 25 will fund lifesaving breast cancer research through sales of two limited-edition skins, the original Pink Mercy and the new Rose Gold Mercy Bundle. 🤩 100% of the purchase price (excluding any applicable platform fees and taxes) will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 💘The original collaboration in 2018, which introduced Pink Mercy, raised USD $12.7 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and became the biggest single donation to BCRF. To celebrate 100 million players answering the call since Overwatch launched in 2016, we're joining forces again! Thanks to support from the player community, this funding fueled BCRF’s Precision Prevention Initiative (PPI) and empowered key breakthroughs in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and metastasis (a.k.a. stage 4 breast cancer). The 2018 donation helped fund researchers who advanced promising AI tools in mammogram imaging, devised models to better predict how aggressive breast cancers will respond to treatment, identified drugs that could potentially delay tumor formation, and more.💪 Answer the call from Tuesday, June 25 through Monday, July 8. Together, we are excited to once again make a difference! 💘 Learn more about Mercy for a Cause here: https://lnkd.in/gApZKFjf
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Blizzard staff watched the #VesselOfHatred cinematic for the first time, and reactions were... Well, you’ll see 🔥 Watch the cinematic for yourself here: https://blizz.ly/4aQvQXu
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Yesterday was our first #XboxShowcase as part of the Microsoft Gaming family and we are ecstatic to have announced two major launch dates. 🔥 World of Warcraft: The War Within will launch on August 26, and the first expansion for Diablo IV, Vessel of Hatred arrives on October 8!
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