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Blizzard ready to shake World of StarCraft maker's hand, apologize for the misunderstanding

StarCraft II design director Dustin Browder has said the team is looking forward to shaking the hand of World of StarCraft mod maker Ryan Winzen and apologize for previous misunderstandings.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Browder said originally some folks within Blizzard thought the mod had been created outside the mod tools, and it was amazing job by Winzen who easily confused the staff to think it was built using something else entirely.

"We just want to shake his hand and say sorry for the misunderstanding," he said. "You got to give him a break. It's very difficult to look at that mod and understand that's a StarCraft mod. Some people within the organization thought it was a whole new game. Hats off to our tools developer that they made a tool that somebody could so easily confuse our staff about what was going on.

"It was just a big misunderstanding. We just want to shake his hand and say let's look at this mod together and revel in the craziness this guy had put together. The absolute over-the-top amount of effort this guy has put into it is just glorious. We just want to say congratulations and good luck and please keep it up."

Eurogamer asked Browder if the firm plans to hire Winzen after meeting him, all things considered.

"There are a number of factors that go into whether somebody can get a job based on their work," he said. "I haven't met him. Is he a nice guy? I don't know. If he's a jerk then absolutely not. I don't care how good you are. I'm building a team here of people that has to work together. Is he technically skilled? How much of that did he do on his own? What are his design values? What he did was technically impressive, but does he understand how to make a great game? I haven't even played the mod.

"There are a lot of questions that go into it. But if he's somebody who did all this great work and he passes all the other challenges to being a game designer, then yeah, he could be looking at offers from me or from other developers around the business. I don't know whether he's got the proof or not. For his sake I hope he does. But that's all up to him at the end of the day, whether he's done the homework, done the effort, to get that kind of opportunity.

"A YouTube video of something technically impressive is not a game designer, but it is on your way. It is possibly a game a designer, which is very exciting."

Blizzard hold the trademark for the name World of StarCraft, so the mod name has been changed to StarCraft Universe.

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StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

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Stephany is VG247’s News Editor, with 22 years experience (with 15 of them at VG247). With a brain that lacks adhesive ducks, the ill-tempered, chaotic neutral fembot does her best to bring you the most interesting gaming news. She is also unofficially the site’s Lord of the Rings/Elder Scrolls Editor.

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