In an interview with Diablo 2 creator David Brevik, Chris Wilson drops the bombshell: Path of Exile will be followed by a new role-playing game.
In February of this year, it was announced that co-founder Chris Wilson was leaving Grinding Gear Games (GGG) after 17 years. This marked the end of an era not only for him, but also for the Path of Exile community. For years, Wilson was considered the face of the action role-playing game, which he often represented at events and announcements.
To mark the 25th anniversary of genre cousin Diablo 2, the former GGG chief developer is stepping in front of the camera once again after a long absence to interview Diablo 2 creator David Brevik. And while he’s at it, he also has an announcement to make.
Chris Wilson founds new studio
Wilson hasn’t been idle over the past few months. In the interview video, which you can watch on YouTube, he talks about the founding of his new studio, Light Pattern, at the very end (around 01:10:09):
I wanted to get creative again, in a way that didn’t involve managing 200 employees. […] And so I realized that what I enjoyed most about working on Path of Exile was jamming with Jonathan and Eric in my garage in the early days. It was a very small team that was just trying to develop something that involved a lot of creativity and allowed me to write code […].
So I recently started a very small studio with a few friends called Light Pattern, and we’re working on a small project that I probably won’t talk about for the next few years. I guess my only clue is that there’s a reason we’re talking about it today.
This would suggest that this new game is also an action role-playing game in the vein of Diablo and Path of Exile. However, we will have to wait for further details. In any case, the only job currently advertised on the Light Pattern website is for an art director. No information about the project is available yet.
Brevik agrees with Wilson in an interview about his new path. He recalls what it was like to suddenly be CEO of hundreds of people when he joined Gazillion Entertainment. In 2016, he also resigned from this position and left the company to continue as an indie developer. At that time, he was also advising GGG on the Chinese release of Path of Exile.
So let’s keep an eye on what Wilson has in store for Light Pattern. Until we actually get our hands on the new game, we’ll have to content ourselves with Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. Incidentally, the former is currently available with a PS Plus subscription. You can find more information in the link box above. There, Brevik also reveals which feature of Diablo 2 he is still embarrassed about today.