Today’s news is a bit of a surprise, as Adam Jackson, the Lead Class Designer for Diablo IV, has announced that he is leaving the company after 15 years of working at Blizzard Entertainment. He shared the news just a few hours ago on Twitter/X, confirming that he is moving on from working on Diablo 4.
If you have not heard the name Adam Jackson before, here is a quick rundown: He first joined Blizzard in 2009, working in customer support, before eventually transitioning into game design. He became part of the Diablo 4 team in January 2021 as a Senior Game Designer, stepped into the Lead Class Designer role in 2022, and finally his current position as Lead Live Designer since 2024. His work played a major part in shaping class balance, skill trees, and core mechanics. Before working on Diablo, he worked on Heroes of the Storm, where he was known for his engagement with the player community.
At this time, Adam has not shared any information or details regarding where he is headed next or why he is leaving, but his exit definitely signifies a pretty big change for Diablo 4’s development team. With seasons releasing frequently and expansions yet to come, it will be interesting to see how Blizzard handles class design moving forward and who will fill the role after Adam is gone.
For those of you interested in his design philosophy, here is an interview from Darth Microtransaction and Ghazzy from last year, where they discussed class balance and gameplay:
Adam Jackson’s impact on Diablo 4 was huge, so his departure leaves a lot of questions for the future. We will just have to wait and see what comes next.