Rod Fergusson, the final supervisor of the Diablo franchise who has overseen the launch of Diablo 4 and its Vessel of Hatred enlargement, has introduced that he is leaving Blizzard. Famend for his work main the Gears of Struggle collection, he made the change to Blizzard in 2020 to steer the Diablo ship, however after 5 years, he is leaving the corporate for a brand new problem.
Given the unconventional variations in style between Gears and Diablo, some have been stunned at Fergusson’s transfer from The Coalition to Blizzard. Nonetheless, his expertise broadening the scope of Gears of Struggle matched with what Blizzard was wanting to attain with Diablo 4 – the collection’ first open-world recreation. Fergusson lead the final couple of years of Diablo 4’s growth by way of Covid, its launch in 2023, and the addition of its Vessel of Hatred DLC final 12 months which added the Spiritborn class. Previous to that, he additionally oversaw the launches of the Diablo 2 Resurrected remaster in 2021 and free-to-play Diablo Immortal in 2022.
Now, after a really busy tenure, Fergusson is transferring on. “After 5 years of driving the Diablo franchise ahead with 4 massive launches, it is time for me to step away from Blizzard/Microsoft, sword in hand, and see what’s subsequent,” he writes in a submit on social media. “The groups are arrange for achievement, with an thrilling slate of releases forward. I am extremely pleased with what we have constructed collectively and searching ahead to what comes subsequent for Diablo, and for me.”
Fergusson hasn’t introduced the place he is off to subsequent, however hypothesis is already rife. Some are questioning if a return to the Gears franchise might occur, but it surely’s price noting that his message states he’s leaving Microsoft, extra broadly – Gears developer The Coalition is after all a Microsoft first-party studio.
The main principle – and the one I might put my cash on, personally – is that he might return to the Bioshock collection and assist the struggling Bioshock 4. Fergusson labored at Irrational Video games for a brief stint to assist get Bioshock Infinite over the road, leaving the corporate quickly after its launch. Bioshock 4 has now been caught in growth turmoil for years, and simply final week it was revealed that developer Cloud Chamber was getting a serious shakeup after the sport did not impress executives.
That shakeup has seen Bioshock 4’s inventive director, Hogarth de la Plante, and Cloud Chamber’s long-serving studio head, Kelley Gilmore, transfer away from the venture. Fergusson famously had two stints on the Gears franchise, perhaps the identical is about to occur with Bioshock? That’s after all simply hypothesis – the modifications at Cloud Chamber and Fergusson’s departure from Blizzard might be purely coincidental.
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