Blizzard Entertainment, publisher of "Diablo" and "Warcraft," is widely seen in the games industry as one of the most attractive assets of VU Games, which has been languishing on the auction block for months.
While a number of other game companies are known to have an interest in Blizzard as a stand-alone asset, Vivendi Universal has been trying to sell its games business as a complete entity as it looks to shed entertainment-related assets to pay down debt.
Blizzard said it did not expect the group's departures to have any effect on properties in development. The team that had been known as Condor joined Blizzard and became Blizzard North in February 1996.
Since then, the team has turned out two Diablo games, plus an expansion pack for the second title.
A spokeswoman for Blizzard was not immediately available to comment.
As the potential sale of VU Games has dragged on, top executives of the unit have acknowledged that shielding employees from the stress of uncertainty over the business's future has been difficult.
"It would not be true to deny it's affecting the staff," Luc Vanhal, the president of VU Games' North American operations, told Reuters last month.