VentureBeat is reporting that Gazillion CEO and Marvel Heroes front-man David Brevik has left the company. Interim CEO Dave Dohrmann described the departure as “amicable” and indicated that the studio is seeking a suitable replacement.
Brevik, known for his role as head of Blizzard North and one of the founders of the Diablo franchise, originally joined Gazillion over six years ago to work on the planned MMORPG Marvel Universe, which eventually was transformed into Marvel Heroes.
“Though the time has come for me to move on, I’m excited about the future of Marvel Heroes and look forward to what’s next from studio director Jeff Lind and the team,” Brevik told VentureBeat.
Gazillion offered the site a statement of its own:
“After six years with the company, David Brevik has moved on from CEO of Gazillion to other opportunities. David has played an integral role in the growth and success of Gazillion, most notably leading the development of the acclaimed Marvel Heroes 2015 – and we greatly appreciate his many contributions to the game and the community.”
We have reached out to Gazillion to inquire further about the impact on the game.
To answer your question about the status of the game more directly, it’s still very healthy. Marvel Heroes 2016 is currently scheduled to launch at the end of the month with a bunch of new features (Secret Invasion story, controller support, leaderboards, visual updates and more), and we’ll unveil some more new playable heroes for the year to come as well in the near future.
Brevik himself posted a fond farewell message on the official forums:
Almost 7 years ago, I joined Gazillion as the Creative Director for a new Marvel product. I still can’t believe that this dream came true. I have been a life-long Marvel fan and I really relished the opportunity to create a unique and fun Marvel game.
Over the course of the next year, my job really changed. I went from Creative Director to the head of all Gazillion studios (there were many locations back in those days). Slightly after that, I was promoted to President and COO of the company and I became more and more distant from the project that brought me to Gazillion. About six months before Marvel Heroes launched, I became CEO, which is the position I have held for about three years now.
As CEO, I spent most of my time running the company. I played the game a lot, talked about the game a lot and added lots of feedback and new ideas, but that is a very different job than being a Creative Director. After doing this for several years, I really want to get back to developing games and programming. I got into this industry to make games and I miss the day-to-day creation process.
That said, it was difficult, because I love Marvel Heroes. I love our community. I love the team I helped assemble. We have an incredibly talented staff here and I know that the game is in great hands. I believe in the future of the game and I know a lot of the amazing things that are being worked on. The game has some really cool features coming that I know I will enjoy. Yes, I will still be playing the game. Yes, I will still be streaming. I will still be sending the team feedback and information and suggestions. I may not work at Gazillion, but I love this game. I’m very proud of what we accomplished.
As for what’s next, I am going to go indie. I’m going back to doing the things I love most: programming and making games. We will have more information about that in the future.
Thank you team, community and family for a wonderful seven years together. I am so lucky to be a part of such an incredible experience.
Best,
David
