Yesterday, we wrote an article on David Brevik – co-creator of the Diablo franchise and former CEO of Gazillion – leaving his company and its popular ARPG Marvel Heroes 2015 to pursue independent projects. Brevik went into further detail on his departure last night on his wife’s Twitch.tv stream while enjoying a few in-game raids with his Mrs. Brevik and fellow players. He also announced the name of his new company: Graybeard Games.
About nine minutes into the stream, Brevik attributed his reason for leaving Gazillion to his desire to program and create games like he used to.
The fact of the matter is that being CEO doesn’t allow me to be a game developer. […] I still could contribute; I still was able to give feedback and come up with ideas and direct some stuff […] from afar – but not really be involved with the actual creation of the game and not doing any programming and things like that.
He continued by delving into his passion for doing hands-on work in the game creation process.
It’s a thankless job [being a CEO…] It’s not creating something; it’s just sustaining something. And though I love Marvel Heroes […] the fact is that I want to make a game again. I want to program again. I want to be deeply involved with something and make it [a] personal effort, and that’s what I’m going to get back to. […] I’ve got to do something for myself here; I’ve got to start creating again. I just wasn’t happy at the end. Playing boss all the time is not as fun as making games.
Brevik also stated that he’s not completely leaving Marvel Heroes 2015 behind. He will still be playing the game, and will maintain contact with Marvel Heroes’ 60-strong development team by making suggestions to improve the game. He also has no plans to return to Blizzard Entertainment at this time.
Gazillion’s next CEO has not yet been decided, though Dave Dohrmann will be acting as an interim CEO in the meantime.
To the delight of his fans, Brevik also stated that he will continue to stream Marvel Hero Raid Nights, where he will participate in raids with fellow players.
About 27 minutes into the stream, Mrs. Brevik confirmed the name of her husband’s new company as Graybeard Games. The company will consist solely of Brevik at the beginning; he can’t imagine more than three or so people on the team. Brevik could not confirm the genre of his new game, but he did say that it will probably be “RPG-oriented” and for PC platforms.
The full Twitch vod from last night’s stream can be found here. Graybeard Games’ official site can also be found here. Fans, meanwhile, would do best to keep an eye and an ear out for Brevik’s projects in the near future.