portal VentureBeat announces that another franchise veteran and Blizzard Entertainment have joined studio Moon Beast Productions, founded by two key developers of Diablo II.
Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Remember that Moon Beast Productions was founded in March 2022 by Diablo II Lead Designer Peter Hu and Lead Artist Phil Shenk.
They are now joined by Erich Schäfer, co-founder of Blizzard North and co-author of the first two Diablos, Torchlight and Rebel Galaxy. The developer will take on the creative direction of Moon Beast and its debut game.
This is an as-yet-untitled action-RPG that Moon Beast hopes to revolutionize the genre with. In particular, the studio wants to surprise with the approach to the progression system and solving problems faced by PvE games like Diablo.
Concept art from the official Moon Beast website (Image source: Moon Beast Productions)
“I’m impressed by what the Moon Beast team has created in such a short amount of time. My imagination fueled the possibilities, which is the main reason I wanted to get involved.”explains Schäfer.
According to Schaefer, many action RPGs today – Diablo, Torchlight or Path of Exile – are essentially the same game with 4X strategy features. Moon Beast wants to reinvent the genre.
Moon Beast’s revolutionary action-RPG doesn’t have a release date yet, but at the GDC 2023 conference on March 20-24, the team will be showing the prototype to potential partners. The studio is aiming for a cross-platform release and a third-party engine.
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