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Diablo Creator David Brevik Steps Down As CEO Of Marvel Heroes Studio Gazillion
David Brevik, who is often credited as one of the key minds behind Blizzard’s Diablo has announced his departure from his most recent post. He recently stepped down as CEO of Marvel Heroes studio Gazillion Entertainment, a position he held since 2011.
Brevik announced the news this week in a statement on the Marvel Heroes forums. “As CEO, I spent most of my time running the company,” he writes. “I played the game a lot, talked about the game a lot and added lots of feedback and new ideas, but that is a very different job than being a Creative Director. After doing this for several years, I really want to get back to developing games and programming. I got into this industry to make games and I miss the day-to-day creation process.”
He mentions that his next endeavor will be as part of an indie team. The company he leaves behind continues to improve its Marvel Comics-inspired, free-to-play action-RPG.
The title saw a rocky launch in 2014, but smart changes in 2015 raised its profile. The company is planning another major overhaul early this year, which will see the game renamed Marvel Heroes 2016 (after the year was appended for the first time in 2015).
The company has named Dave Dohrmann as acting CEO, with a search underway for a permanent replacement. Brevik, who founded Condor, which later became Blizzard North, will be attending GDC to present a post-mortem of the original Diablo.
We’ve reached out to Gazillion for comment. The company provided the following statement:
After six years with the company, David Brevik has moved on from CEO of Gazillion to other opportunities. David has played an integral role in the growth and success of Gazillion, most notably leading the development of the acclaimed Marvel Heroes 2015 – and we greatly appreciate his many contributions to the game and the community.
“Creating Marvel Heroes has been a work of passion for over six years. It was my first opportunity to work on a live-service product and interact with our amazing community and it has been one of the best experiences of my life. I’m very proud of all the work our talented team has done together,” David said. “Though the time has come for me to move on, I’m excited about the future of Marvel Heroes and look forward to what’s next from Studio Director Jeff Lind and the team.”
The Gazillion team thanks David Brevik for his vision and leadership, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
[Source: Marvel Heroes Forums, GamesBeat]
Our Take
One of the things I’ve enjoyed about Diablo II and Marvel Heroes are the respective studios’ desire to refresh and revise content based on feedback. Marvel Heroes may have had a challenging start, but when I played it last year, I had a blast. I look forward to hearing about what Brevik will be doing next and eagerly await his GDC post-mortem.
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