Rich Campbell Fired by Blizzard

Popular World of Warcraft Arena World Championship host and commentator Richard W. Campbell was reportedly fired by Blizzard. For criticizing the game?

Richard Campbell is one of the more popular hosts and commentators in the esports scene. He started his career as a caster in World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, but lately also took part in some big Dota 2 events. He’s most famous for hosting the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship (AWC), but it looks like we won’t be seeing him there in 2020. Yesterday, Rich revealed some news on his Twitter account and even posted a video explaining the whole situation.

Fired again - no more WoW casting/ hosting https://t.co/ZuR4fy0o1h pic.twitter.com/JY4CVGG73e
— Rich Campbell (@RichWCampbell) July 9, 2020

In the video Richard starts by saying:

I’m no longer going to be a part of the Arena World Championship. It wasn’t my choice, I got the call two or three days ago now. I’m so happy with everything I got to do.

Further on he goes to explain how happy he was to travel around the world. Apparently he got the call a few days back and things were different. This isn’t the first time Campbell was let go from the WoW scene.

Hey guys. Just woke up. Gonna gather my thoughts. Will post later. Was not my decision, I've always put wow first, but I won't be a part of this season. I have full faith everyone involved is gonna bring you guys an awesome show. I love them all like family pic.twitter.com/IhGx7Tl8qH
— Rich Campbell (@RichWCampbell) June 9, 2019

Later in the video, Richard also adds:

The first time it happened, the first time that I got let go. I kinda knew I’d be back right. I know I’m a good host and I know I’d be back. This time it doesn’t seem that way for multiple reason. Some on their end some on mine, I can’t go into too much detail. This is a decision that they made and I think they did it the best way they could.

Fans on Twitter speculated that the release of Richard might have something to do with one of his streams. Specifically, a clip where he has an outburst and criticizes the game.

While all of this means that we’ll no longer see Campbell in official Blizzard events, there are still community-run ones where he could be present. In theory. There’s also Dota 2, a game which is owned by Valve, and so far fans of the MOBA have enjoyed Richard’s presence on the panel. That’s why there’s a high possibility we’ll be seeing more of him, potentially even during The International (the biggest Dota 2 event of the year).

Will the AWC ever be the same without Richard?