David Brevik, CEO of Gazillion Etnertainment and the former president of Blizzard North, has announced on Marvel Heroes’ forums that he is leaving Gazillion (via Polygon). Brevik helped found the company in 2009.
After stepping down as CEO, Brevik will go back to independent game development. While he loves Marvel Heroes, he says, he misses programming and other day-to-day work.
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.
Brevik originally joined Gazillion as the Creative Director for what would later become Marvel Heroes 2015. His role quickly changed, however, and from the time he joined to six months before the game launched, he acted as President, then COO, until finally being promoted to CEO.
Before joining Gazillion, Brevik served as President of Blizzard North, the studio responsible for the original Diablo.