Blizzard has been embroiled in controversy following an explosive discrimination lawsuit filed against parent company Activision Blizzard, but the gears of business keep on turning, and Diablo II: Resurrected still releases next month. Many are now asking themselves whether they can support the game given recent revelations about Blizzard, but there’s one person who definitely isn’t on board — David Brevik.
David Brevik was lead designer of the original Diablo, director of Diablo II, and generally credited as the series’ creator and early mastermind. You’d think he might want to check out what Blizzard has done with one of his creations, but Brevik will be sitting this one out…
Sorry, but I’m not supporting Blizzard right now — including anything D2R related. I will not be buying or streaming D2R and my interactions/questions about D2R will be very limited. https://t.co/J2WhoJNEAh
— David Brevik (@davidbrevik) August 30, 2021
It should be noted that Brevik has had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the current Blizzard for a while now (he left back in 2003) as he also had some pointed comments about Diablo III, leading to some blowback from the makers of that game.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed suit against Activision Blizzard, alleging gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher. Activision Blizzard’s official response to the suit accuses the DFEH of “distorted […] and false” descriptions and insists the picture painted is “is not the Blizzard workplace of today.” An open letter objecting to the official response was signed by thousands of current and former Acti-Blizz employees, leading to a worker walkout. Acti-Blizz CEO Bobby Kotick would eventually apologize for the company’s initial response, calling it “tone deaf.” Several high-ranking Blizzard employees, including former president J. Allen Brack and Diablo IV and World of Warcraft team leaders have resigned or been fired, with their names being stripped for certain characters.
Diablo II: Resurrected launches on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on September 23.
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