"Rick was the natural choice to take over the reins as development team lead for Blizzard North," stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder. "He has been a driving force from day one, and because of his history with us and his experience as a lead programmer on the Diablo® series, we feel he's the right person to build on the successes of Blizzard North and to help shape the team's future direction."

Since joining the company in 1994 as one of Blizzard North's first employees, Seis has contributed greatly to Blizzard Entertainment's unrelenting passion for creating only the highest quality games. Prior to his current position, Seis served as the senior programmer on Diablo, lead programmer on Diablo II, and was the company's director of technology. As development team lead of Blizzard North, Seis will report directly to Blizzard's Morhaime.

Best known for blockbuster hits including the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo series, Blizzard Entertainment (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Universal Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes seven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's free Internet gaming service Battle.net reigns as the largest in the world, with millions of active users.