Diablo 3 raises "very mixed emotions" in original series creator
Diablo 3 isn't the game David Brevik would have made, or the one fans want, the original Diablo creator has said.
Speaking to IncGamers, the Blizzard North co-founder said he has both positive and geative reactions to Diablo 3's poor reception among hardcore series fans.
"I have very mixed emotions about it. On one hand I am sad that people haven’t enjoyed Diablo because it’s a love, a passion, and its obvious people still have a giant love and passion for Diablo and they are speaking out about it because they have such love for it. That makes me feel great," he said.
Diablo and Diablo 2 were developed by Blizzard North, which was later closed down. A team at Blizzard's HQ then took over for Diablo 3. Brevik said he feels "a little sad" that some of the changes introduced in Diablo 3 by its new development team go against his own design philosophies, and that fans reacted critically to those decisions makes him feel guiltily pleased.
"I am also a little happy, which I hate to say, it shows that the people that were involved in Diablo really did matter, and so I am happy that it has come to light that how talented that group was and how unique and special that group was," he said.
"I am hoping that, as this happens very often in the industry, you see it with Call of Duty and things like that, when the people leave the game changes and it shows how critical people are in this industry."
Brevik said the new take on Diablo is "a very different game" than he would have made, and that the closure of Blizzard North robbed the publisher of some of its core talent.
"When Blizzard North shut down they lost a ton of experience with why the action RPG works and what about it works. That’s really difficult to recover from," he said.
"They didn’t have the experience of people that knew it well. This is why you do things with random levels for example, and so when you lose that experience you are going to create a very different experience in the end than we would have created."
Hit the link above to read Brevik's opinion of what exactly went wrong with Diablo 3. The RPG sold by the boatload on release but has since been slammed for its lack of end-game content among other issues, something Blizzard's ongoing support is expected to address.
Brevik is now president and CEO of Gazillion, the studio behind Marvel Heroes, the upcoming MMORPG.