David Brevik (born February 14, 1968) is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

, producer, and

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

who served as the co-founder and president of

Blizzard North Blizzard North (formerly known as Condor) was an American video game development studio based in San Mateo, California. The studio was the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area division of Blizzard Entertainment, and it was known for the Diablo (series ...

. He is best known for the critically acclaimed ''Diablo'' series. Currently, he serves as game designer and founder of his independent studio, Graybeard Games.

Early life

Brevik was born in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, on February 14, 1968. His family moved from Wisconsin to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and then to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

during his childhood. Blind in one eye, Brevik decided his lack of

depth perception Depth perception is the ability to perceive distance to objects in the world using the visual system and visual perception. It is a major factor in perceiving the world in three dimensions. Depth sensation is the corresponding term for non-hum ...

would make

professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...

too difficult, so he focused on his talent for programming. He studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

at California State University, Chico from 1986 to 1991. After graduating, Brevik worked at the

clip art Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...

company FM Waves. Upon the company's bankruptcy, Brevik left to become lead technical director at

Iguana Entertainment Iguana Entertainment, later known as Acclaim Studios Austin, was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally locat ...

. In September 1993, he formed the video game development studio Condor with his FM Waves colleagues, brothers Max and Erich Schaefer. The publisher

Sunsoft , is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, video game developer and publisher. They are known for their video games under the brand name Sunsoft. History In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded i ...

, already familiar with Brevik's work, immediately reached out to have Condor develop ''NFL Quarterback Club'', ''Justice League Task Force'', and ''NFL Quarterback Club 96''. When presenting Condor's work developing ''Justice League Task Force'' for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

at the 1994 CES trade show, Brevik met Allen Adham of

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

, who had overseen the game's development for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

Blizzard Entertainment

In January 1995, Brevik pitched his original

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat wh ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, ''Diablo'', to Blizzard executives. The game was named after the

Mount Diablo Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton, California, Clayton and northeast of Danville, Califo ...

mountain near his childhood home in California. Blizzard initially agreed to publish the game, but by March 1996, it had outright acquired Condor, renaming the studio as

. Under pressure from Blizzard, Brevik changed Diablo from turn-based to real-time combat, included

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

using Blizzard's Battle.net platform, and removed

permadeath Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the p ...

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

named Brevik as 1996's fourth most influential person in computer gaming for his role in the inception and development of '' Diablo''. In June 2003, Blizzard North executives Bill Roper, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, and Brevik emailed Blizzard Entertainment's then-

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Vivendi Games Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was foun ...

, threatening to resign unless provided financial protections and communication on Vivendi's intent to sell Blizzard. Vivendi accepted their resignations effective immediately, spurring them to found Flagship Studios and recruit similarly disgruntled Blizzard North employees. Blizzard North was ultimately shut down two years later to consolidate Blizzard's staff in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. In an interview coinciding with the console release of ''Diablo III'', Brevik criticized Blizzard for over-emphasizing the game's narrative, modifying its loot system, and implementing a controversial

auction house An auction house is a business establishment that facilitates the buying and selling of assets, such as works of art and collectibles. Overview The auction house is the physical facility where the objects are catalogued, displayed, and presented ...

in this first entry developed outside Blizzard North. On a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post discussing Brevik's comments, ''Diablo III'' lead designer, Jay Wilson, commented "fuck that loser," prompting death threats against Wilson for supposedly corrupting the series.

Later career

After Brevik resigned from Blizzard, he founded Flagship Studios in 2003 and its sister company, Ping0 in 2006. Once Flagship Studios dissolved in August 2008, Brevik was appointed as creative director for Turbine Inc. (now WB Games Boston) amid its West Coast expansion. In 2009, David Brevik joined Gazillion Entertainment as its creative director. In 2011, the company's Gargantuan Studio became Secret Identity Studios, and David Brevik was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Gazillion Entertainment. In January 2016, he left the company to enter indie game development. As of October 18, 2016, Brevik has been working as an advisor on the Chinese release of

Path of Exile ''Path of Exile'' is a free-to-play action role-playing video game developed and published by Grinding Gear Games. Following an open beta phase, the game was released for Microsoft Windows in October 2013. A version for Xbox One was released in ...

for Grinding Gear Games. After leaving Gazillion, Brevik founded an indie studio called Graybeard Games. In May of 2019, Graybeard Games released an action role-playing video game titled ''It Lurks Below''. In 2016, Brevik revealed that he was approached by Sabeer Bhatia in 1996 to form an

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

company, in which he would get 10% of the shares. Brevik flatly rejected the offer, thinking it was the "stupidest idea." 14 months later, when the company, later known as

Hotmail Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. It also provides a webmail interface accessible via web browser or mobile apps featuring mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and ...

, sold for $400 million, Brevik expressed his regret over that decision, calling it the "worst business decision of my entire career." Brevik and Bill Wang, a former employee of Perfect World Entertainment, announced the formation of Skystone Games in May 2020, a publishing and development studio aimed to help smaller indie studios with multi-platform releases.

Personal life

Brevik has attributed the crunch culture while developing ''Diablo II'' to the end of his marriage and damage to his relationship with his two eldest daughters. After the 2021 ''California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard'' lawsuit prompted review of Blizzard Entertainment's culture of

sexual misconduct Sexual misconduct is misconduct of a sexual nature which exists on a spectrum that may include a broad range of sexual behaviors considered unwelcome. This includes conduct considered inappropriate on an individual or societal basis of morality, ...

, Brevik was criticized for dating and eventually marrying a female Blizzard programmer after his divorce. During this period, multiple Blizzard executives were denounced for having relationships with their subordinates.

Works

* '' Gordo 106'' (1993) – Programmer * ''

Aero the Acro-Bat ''Aero the Acro-Bat'' is a 1993 video game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Sunsoft. It was released for both the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Aero the Acro-Bat, a red anthropomorphic bat, was created by ...

'' (1993) – Programmer * ''

NBA Jam ''NBA Jam'' is a List of basketball video games, basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway Games, Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digi ...

'' (1993) – Programmer * '' Justice League Task Force'' (1995) – Programmer * '' Diablo'' (1997) – Lead Programmer, Senior Designer * '' Diablo II'' (2000) – Project and Design Lead * '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' (2002) – Additional Game Review * '' Hellgate: London'' (2007) – Game Visionary, Lead Programmer, Story Editor * '' Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited'' (2009) – Creative Director * '' Marvel Heroes'' (2013) – Creator * ''The Nonomancer'' (2016) – Creator * ''It Lurks Below'' (2018) – Creator

Early life

Blizzard Entertainment

Later career

Personal life

Works

References

Bibliography

External links