Mark Kern

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Mark Kern
File:GDC Online 2011-Monday Virtual Items Summit (34 of 6) (6231793762) - Mark Kern (cropped).jpg
Mark Kern in 2011
EducationUniversity of Rochester (BA)
Boston University (JD)
Occupations
  • Game developer
  • Game designer
Employer(s)Blizzard Entertainment (1997–2005)
Red 5 Studios (2005–2013)
Known forWorld of Warcraft, Firefall

Mark Edward Kern, also known as Grummz, is a former video game executive. He worked for Blizzard Entertainment from 1997 to 2005 and was a co-founder and CEO of Red 5 Studios during the development and promotion of the video game Firefall.

Kern is a graduate of the University of Rochester and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Boston University School of Law. Kern has been described as right-wing due to involvement in online activism against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and in support of Gamergate.

Early life and education

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Mark Kern attended college at the University of Rochester, earning a Bachelor of Arts in cognitive science in 1992.[1] He earned a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law in 1995, where he specialized in intellectual property and was a co-founder of the university's Journal of Science and Technology Law.[2]

Career

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Blizzard Entertainment

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Kern joined Blizzard Entertainment in 1997, initially serving as an Associate Producer for Starcraft. His roles expanded to include Producer of StarCraft 64,[3][4] Producer of Diablo II,[5] and Team Lead for World of Warcraft.[6][7] Kern departed Blizzard in 2005.

Red 5 Studios

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In 2005, Kern co-founded the game development company Red 5 Studios alongside three other former Blizzard employees. He played a significant role in the development of the game Firefall and became CEO of the company in 2008.[8]

Controversies and departure from Red 5 Studios

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Kern faced allegations of overspending on promotional campaigns for Firefall. Notably, he devised a marketing strategy involving a Firefall-themed e-sports bus intended as both a mobile promotional tool and a server for LAN competitions during the game's beta phase. The project, estimated at $3 million, also included the establishment of a dedicated video production team with costly equipment.[9] Red 5 employees described Kern as being prone to extended absences and having an "erratic, impulsive, and very disruptive" leadership style.[10]

In 2013, Kern was removed from his position as CEO by the Red 5 board of directors.[11] He referred to his time at the company as his own "Kobayashi Maru".[9]

MEK Entertainment and later work

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Kern founded the studio MEK Entertainment in 2014. The company raised $1 million in seed funding for an Oculus Rift virtual reality MMO.[12]

In 2016,[13] Kern began seeking crowdfunding for Em-8er, a "spiritual successor" to Firefall.[14] Kern did an interview with YouTuber Upper Echelon in Sept 2024, claiming that about 600K has been raised so far for Em-8er.[15]

Online activism and later activity

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File:GDC Online 2011-Monday Virtual Items Summit (34 of 6) (6231793762) - Mark Kern.jpg
Kern speaking at GDC 2011

Kern has been involved in right-wing activist causes. In response to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act in 2012, Kern initiated a lobbying group named League4Gamers.[16][17][18]

In 2016, Kern became involved in the Nostalrius petition to convince Blizzard to consider reviving vanilla servers for World of Warcraft.[19] Following the Blitzchung controversy in which a Hong Kong eSports player was penalized by Blizzard for voicing support of the Hong Kong anti-national security law protests during a Blizzard streaming event in 2019, Kern quit playing World of Warcraft[14] and called for a boycott of Blizzard.[20]

During the online backlash and criticism against the Canadian narrative development studio Sweet Baby Inc. around unsubstantiated claims of "forcing" diversity,[21] Kern railed against efforts to increase awareness of diversity and related progressive causes in March 2024, claiming a "coordinated effort to insert diversity politics into games".[22][23]

References

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