Diablo 1 and 2 co-creator, Erich Schaefer, has joined Moon Beast Productions in order to “redefine the action-RPG genre”.
Schaefer will take on the position of chief creative officer alongside industry stalwarts, Peter Hu and Phil Shenk, where he’ll be “leading the creative direction” of the studio’s unannounced action-RPG.
Schaefer has established four studios in his time – Blizzard North, Flagship Studios, Runic Games, and Double Damage Games – and co-created the first two Diablo games alongside other critically-acclaimed games like Torchlight and Rebel Galaxy.
“I’m extremely energised to be teaming up with Peter and Phil again. At this stage in my career, I’m pretty choosey,” Schaefer said. “I want to work on projects that are fun and genuinely try to do something different. It’s impressive what the Moon Beast team has built in such a short time. It fired up my imagination with possibilities, and that’s a huge part of why I wanted to come aboard.”
The announcement is the first time the studio has formally revealed that it’s working on an ARPG but as Shenk says, “I doubt it’s a surprise, given our history”.
“Our mission is to find new ways to make this kind of game more fun for players and more efficient to operate as a service,” Shenk added.
“We started Moon Beast to take a fresh look at ARPGs. So much of what we see today is a fairly linear evolution from the original Diablo,” added Hu. “Going back and reinventing the isometric ARPG genre with Erich is like a dream come true for me.”
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