UK Hearthstone player George ‘BoarControl’ Webb is leaving behind his playing career to join the game’s developers, Blizzard Entertainment.
In doing so, he leaves respected South Korean esports organisation T1, whom he joined back in April 2019.
As of next week, he will be working as an associate game designer for Hearthstone’s final design team.
BoarControl has had a solid playing career, joining IGI Esports back in 2014 and playing for now-defunct UK orgs such as ManaLight and Torpedo, the latter of which he won an ESL UK & Ireland Hearthstone Premiership with back in 2016.
He has also played for Vir Mortalis, Fade 2 Karma and the aforementioned T1.
BoarControl said on Twitter he’s thrilled for the opportunity to work on Hearthstone before giving thanks to those who have supported him over the years:
This marks the end of my days on @T1 and as a competitor. A huge thank you to everyone who supported me both as a competitor and a content creator over the past years! That’s past teams, teammates, everyone at HSesports and all those that tuned into my stream.
— BoarControl (@BoarControl) October 12, 2020
The 24-year-old Brit has some 82,000 followers on Twitch, 16,000 followers on Twitter and 6,000 subs on YouTube.
He has amassed more than $70,000 in tournament prize money, according to Esports Earnings, having picked up wins in the Hearthstone Gold Club World Cup 2020, SeatStory Cup IX and more.
It’s an interesting career development to go from player to developer.
Perhaps we’ll see other high-tier UK esports players make similar moves in the future, and have a say in how their respective games are developed.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
