Few video game personalities can claim to have a beautiful CV to make any independent developer cry. If the name of Erich Schaefer has long remained under the radar and out of the lights of tenth art award ceremonies, this discreet man remains one of the most important video game creators of the last 30 years (just That).
After having founded no less than four studios with names crowned with glory: Blizzard North, Flagship Studios, Runic Games and Double Damage Games, and having contributed to designing the Action-RPG with isometric sauce by co-creating Diablo 1 and 2 as well than Torchlight, then having ventured into infinite space with Rebel Galaxy (not having sadly picked up on the way with Hellgate: London – it happens even to the best -), the Sieur Schaefer will soon be back to his first loves.
The Nineties Dream Team
The ambition displayed by Schaefer could not be clearer: to restore the Action-RPG to the Diablo its letters of nobility. From there to say that there is a small spade launched in the direction of the evolution of the Diablo franchise, there is only one step that we will not hesitate to cross.
This transfer of skills to Moon Beast Productions, however, could not be more predictable, given that the studio was founded by Peter Hu and Phil Shenk, industry veterans who honed their skills at… Blizzard North, Flagship and Runic Games… Does this mean that we have here the Three Musketeers of hack’n’slash? Maybe. Peter Hu does not hide his enthusiasm for Schaefer’s arrival as Creative Director at Moon Beast: “Coming back and reinventing the isometric ARPG genre with Erich is like a dream come true for me. Since we got together, we’ve generated some of the most amazing ideas and it’s sparked a creative momentum that I haven’t really felt. since the days of Diablo II.” Currently, the project the trio are working on has no official name or announced release date.