Blizzard employee between 2006 and 2016, Jay Wilson is best known for having led the development of Diablo III until his replacement by Josh Mosqueira in 2013, not without having caused some controversies involving disgruntled fans but also sometimes other members of the development team. When announcing his departure in June 2016, Jay Wilson also intended to put an end to his career in the video game industry to escape the venom of social networks and return to his first love, the ‘writing. Since then, water has flowed under the bridges and a long white beard has grown as an undeniable sign of wisdom. Thus, it is as creative director that Jay Wilson (who was also chief designer of World of Warcraft: Legion) presents himself under the Gas Giant Games flag with the firm intention of achieving unanimity this time.
The elders are resisting
Another big name in the studio, creative director Julian Love spent close to 20 years at Blizzard. Between July 2002 and September 2021, he will have worked on Diablo III (lead technical artist), Diablo IV (combat designer) and Diablo Immortal (combat designer). The two Blizzard alumni founded Gas Giant Games with Dan Kelly, who takes care of running the store as president based on his experience at THQ and Walt Disney.
According to the studio’s press release, Jay Wilson and Julian Love have spent the past two years bringing together developers who have worked on all kinds of hit games, from Kingdom Hearts to Overwatch to Cyberpunk 2077. After researching different concepts, the team finally agreed to make an action-RPG oriented survival game in the hopes of satisfying fans of both genres. This new license is in development on consoles and PC, the door being also open for mobile. For the time being, there is no question of revealing the game to the public. It’s publishers and investors who will be treated to a presentation away from prying eyes next week at the GDC in San Francisco.
” Although we are not yet ready to reveal all the details of our current project to the world, we can say that fans of our previous games will be delighted with what awaits them. I can tell you that our game will deliver visceral and insane combat, engaging progression systems, and a unique survival experience, all set in a new and original world that you’ll love exploring, we’re sure. “says Jay Wilson.