Blizzard co-founder resigns

Allen Adham, a co-founder and vice president of successful development studio Blizzard, has resigned from the company to pursue a career in finance, although a spokesperson claims that he has not cut ties completely.

Adham, who co-founded Blizzard with Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce in 1991, is the latest in a recent series of high profile resignations from the developer, which is wholly owned by Vivendi's games division.

Another vice president, Bill Roper, resigned from the company along with the three co-founders of the Blizzard North studio (which created the massively popular Diablo series of games) in the middle of last year, and they have since formed a development studio of their own.

According to a spokesperson for Blizzard, Adham's resignation comes as a result of "working the long hours and doing the game crunch for many years," and he will continue to be involved with the studio in a consultancy role.

Regardless of the amicable nature of his departure, Adham's resignation will come as a blow to parent company Vivendi, which views Blizzard as the jewel in the crown of its games division - and considers the studio vital to any plans to sell off the division.