David Brevik, one of the original creators of the Diablo games, will be heading up development for Marvel's new massively multiplayer online game, publisher Gazillion announced Tuesday.
Brevik, the former president of defunct studio Blizzard North and lead designer of Diablo and Diablo II, has joined Gazillion-owned developer Gargantuan as studio director. Brevik was also a director at another recently-defunct studio: Flagship, makers of the doomed post-apocalyptic action RPG Hellgate: London.
Brevik isn't the only Blizzard North and Flagship alum to trade in hellspawn for superheroes. Bill Roper, Brevik's former colleague at both Blizzard North and Flagship, is working on Champions Online as a design director at Atari-owned Cryptic Studios.
But the web gets even more tangled: Champions Online was formerly Marvel Universe Online, to be published by Microsoft Game Studios, until it was canceled in early 2008. Shortly after the Marvel game's cancellation, Cryptic announced* Champions Online *based on the HERO pen-and-paper RPG system.
Then, in March, Gazillion Entertainment resurrected the Marvel MMO concept, signing an exclusive 10-year deal to create MMO games with the comic book publisher.
There's currently no release date set for the Marvel MMO, though Brevik may share more details about the game in a panel called "The State of MMOs: A Discussion with the Developer" at this week's Comic-Con.
Cryptic's Champions Online is slated for a September release.
Oh, and don't forget that DC Universe Online, developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment, is also on the way next year. DC will be sharing news about its MMO at its own Comic-Con panel.
It seems like superhero MMOs, like superheroes themselves, just can't be killed... not permanently, anyway.
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