Update:
His LinkedIn profile was updated, and it shows he stopped worked at Blizzard in November 2011:
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The article says lays off, but the general phrasing makes it sounds more like he was fired.
His LinkedIn profile was updated, and it shows he stopped worked at Blizzard in November 2011:
Source: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-staats/22/a05/967LinkedIn said:Director of Content Design
FireForge
Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Games industry
March 2012 – Present (5 months) Orange County, CA USA
Senior Level Designer II
Blizzard Entertainment
Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Computer Games industry
October 2000 – November 2011 (11 years 2 months)
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The article says lays off, but the general phrasing makes it sounds more like he was fired.
Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11/07/rumor-senior-titan-designer-laid-off-by-blizzardMassively said:Rumor: Senior Titan designer laid off by Blizzard
by Jef Reahard on Nov 7th 2011 4:15PM
The recent spate of MMO industry layoffs isn't discriminating in terms of company size if the latest rumors are true. We've just been informed that one of Blizzard's golden boys has been served his walking papers, joining hundreds of devs from the likes of NCsoft, GamersFirst, GameForge, and CCP in recent weeks.
John Staats, the senior level designer on Blizzard's secretive Titan project, has been let go, according to our tipster. Staats has been with the company for over a decade and is responsible for some of World of Warcraft's most celebrated content including all the raid dungeons, Blackrock Mountain and Booty Bay, and numerous other instanced dungeons.
Staats was also described by Jeff Kaplan as the "hero of the WoW dev team."