Overwatch’s executive producer is Blizzard’s latest high-profile departure

Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny is leaving Blizzard this week.

According to Bloomberg, Sonny told staff he’s departing the studio on Friday after five years with the company.

He joined Blizzard in 2016 from God of War maker Santa Monica Studio. He spent two years as production director on Overwatch and three years as executive producer.

A Blizzard statement issued to Polygon claimed Sonny was leaving the company “to take some time off”.

It added: “The deep, talented Overwatch team is making excellent progress on Overwatch 2, and thanks to their hard work, the game is in the final stages of production. We’ll be sharing more at the Overwatch League Grand Finals later this month.”

Sonny’s exit is the latest in a series of high-profile Blizzard departures.

In April, Blizzard announced that game director and vice president Jeff Kaplan was leaving the company after 19 years, and passing leadership of the Overwatch franchise to Aaron Keller, an 18-year studio veteran.

Further reading

Overwatch 2 will reduce PvP team sizes to 5v5 instead of 6v6

The move is designed to make the game easier to keep track of what's going on

In July, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard accusing it of failing to properly address reports of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack left the company in the wake of the lawsuit, as did Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, Diablo 4 lead designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft senior designer Jonathan LeCraft.

Blizzard’s chief legal officer and senior vice president, Claire Hart, also left the company last week.