The studio run by Diablo and Diablo 2 Devs is making a “low budget” ARPG

Summary

  • Ex Diablo developers are making a new ARPG that aims to reinvent the genre.

  • Moon Beast Productions, founded by industry veterans, secured financing for the project.

  • Competing with established ARPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile 2 will be challenging.

Some of the developers who created Diablo and Diablo 2 are currently working on a new “low-budget action RPG,” which they believe could be groundbreaking for the genre. The first two Diablo games are incredibly popular and influential titles, so a new ARPG made from names associated with these projects has a good chance of being a great game.

Released in 1997, Diablo was a surprisingly big hit. While action RPGs already existed before Diablothe game became absurdly influential, selling over 2.5 million copies and spawning countless clones. The sequel Diablo 2 was released for PC in 2000 and ended up being one of the most successful and influential games ever made. The second game sold over 15 million units and is widely recognized as one of the best Diablo game.

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Now industry veterans Phil Shenk, Peter Hu and Erich Schaefer have founded a new independent studio called Moon Beast Productions. According to TechSpot, Moon Beast Productions recently secured $4.5 million to develop a new ARPG that will go “beyond the genre's traditional design templates.” The team, which has members who worked on Diablo 1 and 2intends to revolutionize the hack'n'slash genre by working “smarter” rather than harder. According to Moon Beast's creative director, Erich Schaefer, the team has dreamed of creating a more open, dynamic ARPG for over 20 years, and the team intends to return to what was done early on. Diablo games so unique. Little information has been revealed about the game, but with a team of veritable rock stars behind the project, it has the potential to be one of the best action RPGs on the market.

Creators of Diablo 1 and 2 develop new ARPG with only 4.5 million dollars

Carving out a space in a market filled with excellent ARPGs probably won't be easy, though. The Diablo 4: Ship of Hates expansion, for example, was very popular, and the game has a sizable fan base that may be reluctant to move on.

Competing with Diablo itself is already a serious business, especially when other popular titles such as Path of Exile 2 also fighting for space in the genre. The recently released Path of Exile 2 was a huge hit on Steam, achieving a peak player count of over 538,000 players and boasting the 15th highest player count of all time in the platform's history. The title also received glowing reviews from most critics, and currently holds an average of 87 on OpenCritic. Hopefully, Moon Beast Production's upcoming ARPG will receive a similar reception Path of Exile 2s and the veteran team will find ways to push the genre forward.

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