| Mark Kern | |
| Birth Date: | 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Employer: | Blizzard Entertainment (1997-2005) Red 5 Studios (2005-2013) |
| Education: | Boston University School of Law (JD) University of Rochester (BA) |
| Known For: | World 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 law degree from the Boston University School of Law. Kern has been involved in online activism against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and in support of Gamergate.
Mark Kern was born in Taipei, Taiwan, where he attended the Taipei American School. He moved to the United States to attend college at the University of Rochester, earning a B.A. in cognitive science in 1992.[1] He went on to earn a J.D. 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]
Kern joined Blizzard Entertainment in 1997, initially serving as an Associate Producer for Starcraft. His roles expanded to include Producer of Diablo II[3] and Team Lead for World of Warcraft.[4] [5] Kern departed Blizzard in 2005.
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.[6]
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.[7] Red 5 employees described Kern as being prone to extended absences and having an "erratic, impulsive, and very disruptive" leadership style.[8]
In 2013, Kern was removed from his position as CEO by the Red 5 board of directors.[9] He referred to his time at the company as his own "Kobayashi Maru".[7]
Kern founded the studio MEK Entertainment in 2014. The company raised $1 million in seed funding for an Oculus Rift virtual reality MMO.[10]
In 2019, Kern sought crowdfunding for Em-8er, a "spiritual successor" to Firefall.
In response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act in 2012, Kern initiated a lobbying group named League4Gamers.[11] [12] [13] In 2015, he expressed support for the Gamergate movement[14] and indicated a desire to revive League4Gamers as part of this campaign.
In 2016, Kern became involved in the Nostalrius petition to convince Blizzard to consider reviving vanilla servers for World of Warcraft.[15] Following the Blitzchung controversy in 2019, Kern quit playing World of Warcraft[16] and called for a boycott of Blizzard.[17]
In August 2023, Kern attracted attention when he posted a critical tweet regarding the start menu of the then-upcoming Bethesda Softworks game Starfield. This tweet sparked reactions from various individuals, including Bethesda's head of publishing, Pete Hines.[18]
After online backlash and harassment against the Canadian narrative development studio Sweet Baby Inc.[19] Kern has become an outspoken critic of the company and criticized such ESG standards and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives effects on video game developers. In March 2024, he railed against "wokeness", telling Fox News that there is a "coordinated effort to insert diversity politics into games".[20] [21]