Dave Kosak, father of Patches the Pirate, has left Blizzard.
In an announcement last night on his Twitter account, Dave tweeted that recently left and has moved onto a new studio named Deviation Games as their Creative Director.
Quote From Dave Kosak Big announcement time! After 12 remarkable years and countless adventures, I am moving on from Blizzard Entertainment. The other week I bid a fond farewell to the orc, who is dutifully wearing his mask. I will very much miss all of my Blizzard colleagues.
If you follow me because of #Hearthstone, no need to worry! Last week we announced a great expansion, a new mode, and new progression/rewards. Believe me when I say that’s only the beginning. Great things are in the works!
And, of course, #Shadowlands is around the corner for #WorldofWarcraft. I will be adventuring right alongside you. I am honored to have contributed to the Warcraft universe, and excited for what’s to come.
What’s next for me? I’m pleased to announce that I’ve taken on an important role at @DeviationGames! We are building… something secret. But amazing. I can’t say any more, but I promise: It’ll make you go “Whoa.”
During his time at Blizzard, Dave worked on World of Warcraft during his entire 12-year span at the company while contributing to Hearthstone as a Narrative and Lead Mission designer for the past 4 years. On the World of Warcraft side, he took on the titles which include Quest Designer, Lead Quest Designer, and Lead Narrative Designer.
Dave will always be remembered by the Hearthstone community as the lovable goof during announcement videos for new Hearthstone sets. Dave brought a special excitement to the videos, much like Ben Brode did.
His last Hearthstone announcement appearance was in the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire trailer.
Farewell Dave, your energy will be missed by the Hearthstone community and we wish you the best!
Origin of Patches the Pirate
Shortly before joining the Hearthstone team, Dave was in on a brainstorming session where Patches was conceived.
Quote From Matt Place We were brainstorming some ideas for pirates, and Dave Kosak—he’s worked on WoW since the beginning—came up with this pirate who’s a beholder, which was hilarious to all of us in the room. The idea he has more eyepatches than most pirates even have eyes. It all came together so perfectly. I love the voice lines. Patches says ‘Aye aye!’ when he attacks. He probably should have said ‘Aye aye aye aye aye!
Quote From Dave Kosak did you come up w/ Patches the Pirate before you were technically on the Hearthstone team, or was that one of your first acts? :P
I was in some brainstorming sessions before being a formal part of the team. Blizzard is a close family!
Comments
I always enjoyed his videos. While it is disappointing he will be leaving, I wish him well and can't wait to see what's next from him.
Damn, I really liked his participation on the announcement videos, he grew on me pretty quick...
Really sad to see so many people leabe the game I(we) love...
I wish him luck and good fortune in his next project, he really deserves it!
Damn, I'll miss him :(
The AoO Storage Wars video was absolutely legendary. While everyone did their part and contributed to something, Dave was really the one who put the whole thing together.
Whoever steps in to take that position is going to have some HEAVY shoes to fill in.
Darn, he was starting to grow on me.
Blizzard: "We need a new goofy guy, on the double!"
Didn't know Dave was the inspiration for Hearthstone's main character. Never was a huge fan of the announcement videos since they just weren't for me, but here's hoping Blizzard can find someone with as much energy to keep them enjoyable for a lot of people.
As for him moving onto a new studio, excited to find out what he's working on eventually, here's hoping it is something good!
Sad times
:(
Dave's goofy demeanor really grew on me, I'm going to miss his reveal videos
Really sad to see him go. After Ben, Dave was probably the next most energetic member of the Hearthstone Family. His expac reveals always manged to put a smile on my face.
He was probably my favourite dev at Blizzard, really sad news indeed.
NOOOOO!!! Not Dave! How are we going to get entertaining announcement videos now? They've cycled through so many of their other workers, and none of them are entertaining. They don't know how to pull off the light-hearted goofiness or enthusiasm that Ben and Dave had. They always look like people trying to act after having a script stuck in their face for the first time. Not saying it's their fault, since they were hired for game design and not acting, but I think they could at least hold a couple improve classes to prep people. Honestly, I feel that even I could do a better job than a lot of them in that department.... hmmmm, I wonder if they are hiring for a new spokesman....... ;)
It's been said many times already, but I will miss the heck out of him from the reveal trailers. My personal favorite was the "Collection Managers" one for Ashes of Outland.
"Fel dog whistle! That's worth at least 50!"
"50 what?"
<shrugs> "50!"
Best of luck Dave, thanks for always bringing a smile to my face with every new expansion.
First Ben Brode now Dave Kosak??? Who is next T_T
Too bad, hope this doesn't impact HS and the people that are still around will do a good job.
NOOOOOO. Dave Kosak was always so much fun to see in expansion reveals.... His reactions/acting were amazing! But honestly, and sadly... i'm not surprised. We kept seeing/hearing less and less about Dave Kosak for a while. Personally i haven't been around much of the "ben brode days", but when i started playing again i did see a lot of Dave Kozak with all the fun expansion reveals, and for that i will definitely miss him. And honestly does blizzard/the HS team still have someone nearly as qualified as Dave Kozak to "replace" him. (Even though he is irreplaceable)
Blizzard/HS team will surely have a lot of trouble finding someone. They already tried i guess, as we kept seeing a lot of new people in the expansion reveals in the year of the dragon, and we got the "Madness.. at the darkmoon faire" guy from last reveal. (forgot his name) My guess is that we might see a bit more from him..?
But Dave, good luck with your new job, and in the future! Looking forward to this "surprise" he and Deviationgames are making, that will make us go "woa"!
Wow, just, wow. Now absolute zero good designers left from original HS.
Damn, he's no longer in Charge...
But good Luck for the Future, Man!
Been wearing the underlying feeling that this was inevitable. Sad to see him go! Wishing him greatness onto his next project.
All the best. Does someone knows more about this company? It seems that many employees are leaving Blizzard to participate in new studios whith more formal-blizzard employees.
We know Deviation Games was founded this year and according to their LinkedIn, they have at least 70 employees.
Dave Anthony, CEO, did a lot of work on the Call of Duty franchise. Jon Burton, CIO, created the LEGO game franchise. I can't tell who else is on their payroll that came from Blizzard since a lot of people on their employee listing have private LinkedIn profiles, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if there's at least a couple more over there.
There’s only Dean Ayala left now.. it’s crazy to think that everyone I knew 5 years ago has left the team by now.