Hearken back to just a few days ago. A day when Blizzard rumors were as rife as ever, and people had started to put two and two together after spotting Diablo II lead, David Brevik, back on the California campus amidst a slew of other Diablo related hints. Well, it turns out it had nothing to do with what we'd hoped. At least not for now.
Instead of reuniting with Blizzard in some sort of consultancy role for Diablo IV, Brevik's tweet saying "I'm proud to be the adviser for the game that pushes this genre to new heights." wasn't in relation to the franchise he helped create - it was to bring its largest competitor to China.
What started as a simple indie take on the hack n' slash genre, Path of Exile - a free-to-play MMO take - caught fire almost immediately. Back in May of last year, it was reported the indie hit boasted a player count of around 11.5 million. Maybe it's suddenly not so surprising to have a man of his talents be brought in to bring the title to the largest F2P market on the planet.
Instead of acting as an adviser on the still anticipated Diablo II HD Remake, Brevik will be putting his wise words to use helping Grind Gear Games tap into one of the most sustainable gaming markets we know.
Confirming the move with PC Invasion studio boss Chris Wilson said, "David is an advisor, primarily for our launch in mainland China, but we hope to learn from his experience as much as we can over the coming months.”
We can still dream.
