The Diablo series is actually the brainchild of David Brevik, the co-founder and former boss of Blizzard North. He has now shared insights into the history of Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 . Particularly interesting: His version of Diablo 3 would have been a mix of action RPG and MMO. His team worked on this vision over 15 years ago.
Who is he? David Brevik (53) is something like the godfather of Diablo. He conceived many inspirations for the later hit game as a child. At 25, he founded the studio Condor with Erich and Max Schaefer and developed the first Diablo.
Before the release of the game in 1996, they teamed up with Blizzard, sold them the studio, and became “Blizzard North”.
Brevik stayed at Blizzard for 7 years, was the design lead for Diablo 2 (2000), before leaving Blizzard in 2003. He then contributed to Hellgate London (2007) and developed his personal project Marvel Heroes (2013). That was an action MMO, which, however, was discontinued under tragic circumstances.
This is what Brevik says about Diablo 2: Brevik has now talked about the Diablo series in a series of tweets. He explains why there was only one expansion for Diablo 2, even though it was a mega hit.
He says:
- There was a second expansion designed, but it was never produced
- The expansion was scheduled before patch 1.10
- New classes, new areas, new mechanics, and story ideas were planned – one of the new classes was a cleric in discussion
- Brevik worked on the second expansion for Diablo 2 in the months before he left Blizzard.
Diablo 3 as Action-MMO: “It was really exciting”
This is what Brevik says about Diablo 3: The father of Diablo also says that he and his team worked on their version of Diablo 3 back around 2002. They had many interesting ideas: Their Diablo 3 would have been significantly different from the other Diablo games. They wanted to create a mix of action RPG and MMO.
The information about Diablo 3 does not come from Brevik, as he had already left long ago and speaks only cautiously about his projects at Blizzard because he is unsure about the rights. Blizzard could still make something of his former concepts.
Brevik then implemented the vision for his Diablo 3
Did Brevik implement his idea? Yes, he did. Many of the ideas Brevik had for Diablo 3 could be realized in “Marvel Heroes,” a free hack-and-slash game featuring Marvel superheroes, which was released for PC in 2013.
Marvel Heroes, however, had a strange development curve:
- Marvel Heroes started weakly in 2013, offered few features and only a limited number of heroes – it was already labeled a complete disaster. What was released back then could have been considered what is today referred to as “Pre-Alpha, Early Access”.
- Then, Marvel Heroes was significantly improved between 2013 and 2016, receiving more content and new superheroes. It became a real hidden gem. During that time, Brevik became the face of the game, streamed it on Twitch, and was frequently in contact with fans.
- Brevik himself left the studio in 2016, to pursue new projects.
- From 2017 onwards, there were problems with Marvel Heroes: The studio released a new version for PS4 and Xbox One and continued it as “Marvel Heroes: Omega.” The core fans on PC criticized that “their version” was being neglected.
- Later that year, Disney announced that they would no longer work with the studio, and Marvel Heroes had to shut down.
Today, Brevik is working on “It Lurks Below,” a survival RPG in pixel art that was released on Steam in 2019.
Since the end of Marvel Heroes and because Diablo 4 is taking so long to arrive, many Diablo fans have an acute hunger for “hack-and-slash” games. We present you the best alternatives to Diablo on MeinMMO:
Games like Diablo – Who needs Diablo 4? Here are 11 current alternatives
The title image comes from a YouTube video by Rhykker: Brevik spoke in 2020 at the ExileCon, the convention of “Path of Exile,” which for many now represents a strong alternative to Diablo 3.
However, the MMO version of Diablo 3 did not come to fruition because many from Blizzard North left the team, and Blizzard then started over in development.
And why did Diablo 3 not get a second expansion? Ironically, even Diablo 3 received only one expansion. Because the game had a “birth defect”, a real-money auction house, with serious consequences.
Because Blizzard removed the auction house early, Diablo 3 apparently lacked a way to earn consistent revenue. This hindered the further development of the game and also the development of a second expansion for Diablo 3.
The information about Diablo 3 does not come from Brevik, as he had already left long ago and speaks only cautiously about his projects at Blizzard because he is unsure about the rights. Blizzard could still make something of his former concepts.
Brevik then implemented the vision for his Diablo 3
Did Brevik implement his idea? Yes, he did. Many of the ideas Brevik had for Diablo 3 could be realized in “Marvel Heroes,” a free hack-and-slash game featuring Marvel superheroes, which was released for PC in 2013.
Marvel Heroes, however, had a strange development curve:
- Marvel Heroes started weakly in 2013, offered few features and only a limited number of heroes – it was already labeled a complete disaster. What was released back then could have been considered what is today referred to as “Pre-Alpha, Early Access”.
- Then, Marvel Heroes was significantly improved between 2013 and 2016, receiving more content and new superheroes. It became a real hidden gem. During that time, Brevik became the face of the game, streamed it on Twitch, and was frequently in contact with fans.
- Brevik himself left the studio in 2016, to pursue new projects.
- From 2017 onwards, there were problems with Marvel Heroes: The studio released a new version for PS4 and Xbox One and continued it as “Marvel Heroes: Omega.” The core fans on PC criticized that “their version” was being neglected.
- Later that year, Disney announced that they would no longer work with the studio, and Marvel Heroes had to shut down.
Today, Brevik is working on “It Lurks Below,” a survival RPG in pixel art that was released on Steam in 2019.
Since the end of Marvel Heroes and because Diablo 4 is taking so long to arrive, many Diablo fans have an acute hunger for “hack-and-slash” games. We present you the best alternatives to Diablo on MeinMMO:
Games like Diablo – Who needs Diablo 4? Here are 11 current alternatives
The title image comes from a YouTube video by Rhykker: Brevik spoke in 2020 at the ExileCon, the convention of “Path of Exile,” which for many now represents a strong alternative to Diablo 3.
