Rod Fergusson has announced his move to Blizzard. There, he will oversee the game franchise Diablo. Two Diablo games are currently in development at Blizzard: Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal. Fergusson became known as the head of the Gears series and later as the “Closer” of BioShock Infinite, meaning someone who finishes games and leads them to release.
What happened? Rod Fergusson announced his move to Blizzard. In a tweet, he shared that he will leave the developer studio “The Coalition” (Gears 5) and will oversee Diablo in the future.
According to his own statement, Fergusson will not oversee a specific title of Diablo, but apparently the entire franchise. His area of work mainly includes the two new titles Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal.
He will officially take up his new position starting March 2020.
Starting in March, I will join Blizzard to oversee the Diablo franchise. Leaving is bittersweet as I love our Gears family, the fans, and everyone at The Coalition and Xbox. Thank you, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you all. pic.twitter.com/0FuO3RFYSQ
— Rod Fergusson (@GearsViking) February 5, 2020
Rod Fergusson is regarded as the “Closer”
Who is Rod Fergusson? Rod Fergusson is a Canadian developer and former Director of Production at Epic Games. There, he created the highly successful “Gears of War” series.
Furthermore, he worked on the following titles at Epic:
- Unreal Tournament 3
- Infinity Blade, the first iOS game with Unreal Engine
- Shadow Complex, which IGN called one of the best games of 2009
Why is he regarded as the “Closer”? A Closer is a pitcher in baseball who is brought in during the last inning to successfully finish a game. In the gaming industry, such a “finishing expert” is responsible for successfully completing games in the final phase of development and leading them to release.
In 2012, Fergusson moved from Epic to Irrational Games to assist in the final development phase of BioShock Infinite.
In an interview with Polygon, he spoke in 2013 about his move and what his role was:
When I stopped at Epic, I heard that Irrational was looking for a “Closer” to successfully complete BioShock Infinite. I appreciate good storytelling in the games I’ve worked on, and I saw it as an opportunity to learn from Ken [Levine] and his team.
The completion of BioShock Infinite was successful. The shooter sold over 11 million copies by May 2015 and received strong ratings on Metacritic. It has maintained that reputation since then.
What did Fergusson do after BioShock? In January 2014, he returned to Gears of War. The franchise had just been freshly acquired by Microsoft.
Fergusson was then appointed to lead the new studio The Coalition, which has released the subsequent parts of Gears of War.
In 2019, he also drew attention when he revealed at E3 that Fortnite would have been canceled under his leadership. However, he took it in stride and said that players should be glad he left Epic back then, as otherwise this global phenomenon would never have happened.
Diablo will not be an easy task
What will be the challenges with Diablo? Currently, there are two titles in development for Diablo. Fans have high expectations for Diablo 4. To even present the game at BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard had to take strict measures.
However, players have concerns, also because not everything went smoothly with the predecessor Diablo 3. In addition to many bugs at release, the real money auction house and the update policy were significant flaws that players have not forgotten.
On the other hand, there is Diablo Immortal, whose release is especially important for Blizzard. With the new title, they aim to attract mobile fans and simultaneously tap into the major markets in China, India, and Brazil.
However, Immortal did not go well with many fans at BlizzCon 2018. Many fans of the game studio are also upset about the fact that it is not developed solely by Blizzard.
The condition of Diablo Immortal is also unclear:
- NetEase, Blizzard’s Chinese partner, stated in February 2019 that “the development of Diablo Immortal is basically complete from a co-developer’s perspective” (via bloomberg)
- However, Blizzard said in November 2019 that it was a rumor that Diablo Immortal was already finished. Diablo Immortal is still “in full production”
It is now also up to Fergusson to ensure that Diablo Immortal becomes successful despite its rough start and that Diablo 4 becomes successful despite still being in development. Blizzard needs a true leader for the franchise. They may have found one in the “Closer”.
What do you think? Can the “Closer” get Diablo back on track?
