He will lead the creative direction of the studio's unannounced action RPG project.
Moon Beast Productions has announced that Erich Schaefer, former VP of Blizzard North and Diablo co-creator, has been appointed as its chief creative officer. In his new role, he will be in charge of the creative direction of the studio's unannounced action RPG project.
Schaefer has a history of co-founding four development studios, namely Blizzard North, Flagship Studios, Runic Games, and Double Damage Games. Throughout his career, he has been the creative director and lead designer of several well-known games such as Diablo I and II, Torchlight, and Rebel Galaxy. Additionally, he played a crucial role in the development of Hellgate: London.
Moon Beast Productions says that it hopes to revolutionize the ARPG genre with Schaefer and his longstanding collaborators from Blizzard North. According to the studio co-founders, Moon Beast was established with the aim of taking a new perspective on ARPGs, and they believe that Schaefer's involvement will make this vision a reality.
"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," Moon Beast's co-founder Peter Hu said in an interview with VentureBeat. "Going back and reinventing the isometric ARPG genre with Erich is like a dream come true for me."
"I’m extremely energized to be teaming up with [Peter Hu and Phil Shenk, studio co-founders] again," Schaefer said. "At this stage in my career, I’m pretty choosey. 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."
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