“He at times seemed like an absentee game director,” said one developer. To mitigate this problem, Pardo had brought in two lead designers: Jeff Kaplan, who had designed quests on World of Warcraft, and Matt Brown, who had worked on The Sims and SimCity at EA’s Maxis. But Pardo remained director of the project and would occasionally jump in with feedback, forcing the team to change course and potentially throw out months of work. “I think when you want to lead something, you have a responsibility to lead,” said Connie Griffith, who worked as an assistant to Pardo. “And if you are not able to
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