David Brevik was a key developer of the action RPG hits Diablo and Diablo 2 in the 90s and early 2000s. Following the allegations of sexism, the design guru has distanced himself from his former employer Blizzard. He says he will never work there again, will never buy a product from them, Blizzard is dead to him.
Who is the father of Diablo? David Brevik (53) founded the studio that later became known as “Blizzard North” and served as the company’s president from 1993 to 2003. Together with Max and Erich Schaefer, he is considered one of the fathers of Diablo: They invented some of the core principles of modern MMOs, such as the “color of loot”.
While he also had plans for Diablo 3, which was supposed to be an action MMO, he left the company before that could happen. Brevik ultimately had nothing to do with Diablo 3.
Later, Brevik worked at Gazillion Entertainment on his own project “Marvel Heroes”, and he is now an indie developer.
“Cancel Blizzard”
This is what Brevik says about the sexism scandal at Blizzard: A California agency has filed charges against Activision Blizzard. The gaming studio is accused of discriminating against and paying women unequally, and there have also been cases of sexual harassment.
In a Twitch stream, Brevik responds to the allegations:
“I was very emotional. In short, even though it sounds stupid: Cancel Blizzard. I will never work there again. I will never buy anything from them again. Blizzard is somehow dead to me – not just somehow.”
David Brevik
That was NOT our culture at Blizzard North
What was it like in the Diablo team? Brevik was asked on Twitter whether such incidents also occurred at Blizzard North like in the main studio.
Brevik says (via twitter): There was actually one incident at Blizzard North. However, he acted decisively and fired the person immediately, even though they had been his “best friend for more than 10 years” at that time.
He follows a zero-tolerance policy in his career. In the few cases after his time at Blizzard, when such incidents occurred, he fired people immediately.
Brevik says: The incidents at Blizzard “outraged him and made him angry”. So angry that he can hardly talk about it. He empathizes with the victims and stands in solidarity with the employees of Activision Blizzard, who are protesting.
This is how it is perceived: In a discussion in the Diablo subreddit (via reddit), people are impressed by Brevik’s demeanor. A reddit user: He worked under Brevik before and he is indeed as impeccable and kind as his reputation suggests.
People indulge in fantasies about how Blizzard would have evolved if the culture and people of Blizzard North had been trendsetting in the years after 2003. One user even says: “The wrong Blizzard was closed back then.”
The original developers of Diablo 1 and 2 have distanced themselves from Blizzard’s games earlier. According to them, the culture in the company has changed significantly:
Original developers of Diablo say: Blizzard has completely changed
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