United States Air Force Captain Brian Holinka began his career in the video games industry working on first-person shooters, beginning with the popular Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 in 2004. Continuing this work with DICE, Trauma Studios, THQ, High Moon Studios, and Kaos Studios over the following eight years, Holinka joined Blizzard Entertainment as Lead PvP Designer in 2012, focusing on Player-versus-Player content and systems for World of Warcraft. After five years in that role, he announced that he would be leaving WoW to join an unannounced Blizzard project as a Senior Designer, returning in 2018 as Lead Combat Designer for all of World of Warcraft – heading the entire class and combat design team, where he oversaw aspects such as the return of expanded talent trees in Dragonflight.
During his time with Blizzard, Holinka became extremely well known among the playerbase, both for his outspoken nature and sometimes controversial opinions as the face of World of Warcraft PvP balance and design. As a longstanding team leader overseeing major aspects of the game, he has been an integral part of the development of World of Warcraft over more than a decade – his leadership, dedication, and vision will be sorely missed, but we wish him luck and look forward to see what great new things he will create alongside Greg Street on their newest adventure.
