The long-time Riot game developer Patrick ‘Scarizard’ Scarborough will be leaving Riot Games this coming Friday after spending nearly four years working for the game company. He was originally interviewed to work for the company on his 21st birthday, no doubt resulting in one of the most awesome birthday gifts ever.
Patrick played a number of roles during his tenure working on League of Legends , ranging from everything from a game balance designer to one of the patch notes writers. He’s one of the better known League devs, and many people have already expressed support for Scarborough as he prepares to leave the company. One reason for Scarborough’s popularity is his occasional forays into the realm of normal gamers, often inviting fellow League of Legends players to join him in various games. He occasionally also has been featured in the various Champion Spotlights released by League highlighting either new or reworked champions and their abilities. You can also see his performance in some of the special All Chat videos where various LoL devs are asked questions about the game (such as identifying a champion based on their voice, except the voice-over is for one of the supported non-English languages).
Scarizard informed the LoL community in a post just a couple days ago of his decision.
“I’ve decided to leave Riot, and my last day is this Friday. I was flown out to Riot HQ in 2012 to interview on my 21st birthday. In just 2 months, I’ll be 26. Considering my living situation (or lack thereof) beforehand, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the series of events leading to my unlikely hiring very well may have saved my life. But as that 5-year mark creeps ever-closer, I’ve done a lot of reflecting about what I want to focus on and what I want to accomplish moving forward. Riot Games has been my home in many respects for so long that it’s been hard to imagine being without it?—?but if I’ve made it this far following my heart, I can’t stop now.”
The game dev has often had fun poking at players in the patch notes, with witty comments concerning the play, expectations, and general character of League of Legends . Patrick got in one last burn during the LoL Patch 7.3 notes in the section about Rengar.
“Also, using Savagery’s dash (which was just supposed to make up for Q’s cast time) as generic movement speed both contributes to his overall mobility and looks really dumb, so we’re lowering the range to make it distance-neutral. If you’re really attached to spamming buttons to try and look cool, just play Riven.”
okay so the amount of positive and supportive outreach I’ve gotten in just the last 4 hours has been overwhelming and amazing thank you all
— benoit blanka (@ScarizardPlays) February 7, 2017
While the majority of the community is behind Patrick, as can be expected, not everyone has positively supported his move. Despite not having actually worked on the game balance for League for a few years, players still blame him for the lack of balance in the game. And sometimes, the results are rather humorous.
– ‘thank god he’s leaving game balance sucks we should go back to s2/s3’ – the only time I worked on LoL’s balance was s2/s3
???
— benoit blanka (@ScarizardPlays) February 7, 2017
but I will say the negative responses I get range from hilarious to ‘wow I can’t believe you spend this much of your day thinking about me’
— benoit blanka (@ScarizardPlays) February 7, 2017
Hopefully, whatever comes next for Scarizard will keep him going on the path of great games. He has not yet posted on Twitter or other media as to what his plans are for the future, but hopefully, he will let everyone now soon what comes next.
So what do you think about Patrick “Scarizard” Scarborough leaving League of Legends and Riot Games? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by League of Legends /Riot Games]
