Dustin Browder Steps Down as Heroes Director; Alan Dabiri to Take Over

With progression of major titles comes transitions.  And on Thursday, Heroes of the Storm director Dustin Browder announced he will be stepping down from his lead position. Heroes technical director, Alan Dabiri, will be replacing him. 

2017 will be a huge year for Heroes of the Storm, given the revamp of their eSports division, extensions from the newly introduced brawl mode, and more and more heroes added every couple of weeks. Dabiri is no stranger to these additions, as he was key component in the creation of the Heroes Brawl mode.

But Brawl won’t be his only focus as he takes the lead chair. Dabiri tells Polygon he has big plans for the eSports scene as well.

We’re adding a tournament draft mode with draft observer support. It’s been a long time coming, and we’ll be glad to finally get this into the game. This also includes an early version of a ‘hero swap’ phase to support eSports in custom games.

Dabiri goes on to say the team will continue to look into in-game match spectating as well. 

Browder has been an important voice in the Heroes community as a strong connection between the corporate side of HotS and the true fans of the game. With Twitter response marathons for virtually any question under the sun, to game updates and a look inside the developer team, his shoes will certainly be difficult to fill. 

He took time in his announcement to show respect for the game he’s been lead of for three years. 

The Heroes of the Storm team is one of the best game teams I have ever had the honor of serving on. I cannot believe how much work and love went into turning what started as a tiny mod into the epic experience that it has become today. And the team just continues to pour their passion, dedication, and expertise into patches, updates, and awesome new game features. 2017 is going to be a huge year for Heroes of the Storm, with new Heroes, Battlegrounds, a massive progression update, improvements to our ladder and matchmaking systems, new social systems, new Brawls, and more.

Browder will be staying in the Blizzard family, but it’s unclear what project he’ll be working on next.