Earlier this year, Ben Brode, Hearthstone's booming, bearded and beloved former director, abruptly announced that he was leaving Blizzard to help start a new company that would "probably make games." Today Brode took to Twitter to formally announce that company: Second Dinner.
So excited to announce our new company! https://t.co/maUXx5qOgEJuly 12, 2018
As you can probably imagine, details are scarce at this early stage. The studio's official Twitter describes it as "a brand new game company." It's also got a website which simply says "we're still having first dinner right now." In other words, Second Dinner is a thing and it's going to make games, but that's about all we know.
Brode's Twitter bio says he'll be working as Second Dinner's chief creative officer, but it's unclear who else will be joining him at the studio. At the very least, we know it's passed the idea stage: Brode says Second Dinner is "up and running" and that he's excited to make games again.
We're up and running! I'm excited to make games!July 12, 2018
Brode said as much when he left Blizzard. "I’m looking forward to designing, programming, and actually creating things again," he wrote in his farewell post. In his time as Hearthstone's director, Brode shifted away from a design role and became more of a leader, not to mention the face of the game. As Tim said, Hearthstone won't be the same without him, but it's also going to be interesting seeing what he does in the creative hot seat at Second Dinner.
