...$10.7 billion was what came of computer gaming last year, with retail sales accounting for 30 percent of total revenues. The increase previous years was driven mostly by online revenues from Asia, the world's largest market, which evidently is responsible for nearly half of total global sales at this point.

Online PC gaming generated $4.8 billion in revenues, about double the worldwide retail sales for PC titles. Digital distribution is on the rise, too, with those sales getting up to $2 billion. Advertising via websites, portals, and the games themselves made $800 million.

GFW: What was your own gut reaction to the art direction?

BR: I just thought it was different. I think the thing I always liked about the Blizzard North and Blizzard HQ constructs is the fact that they were two very distinct groups. At Irvine, we had a way that we approached things -- game development, art style, from color to character shapes, everything -- that was very distinct from the guys at Blizzard North. I think that it made it pretty compelling when you bought the Diablo titles. You got something that was markedly different from what you got out of a WarCraft or StarCraft. I think now, because everything's down there, you're seeing the Irvine take on the Diablo universe. So it's just the direction they're going with the people they have and the mindset there. I always liked the fact that Diablo was very dark and Gothic and gritty and edgy, but I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with the direction they've gone. They just chose to go a different way.

I think the core Diablo fans are saying, "We really like the dark, edgy, gritty look of that game!" We had people impaled on spikes, for god's sake. And now it's kind of bright and airy and doesn't quite feel the same. But I dunno. I look at it, and it's got high production quality, and it looks like it's going to be really fun to play. I think that wall of zombies is the coolest concept for a spell maybe ever. It's not any different in terms of gameplay mechanics, but it's so cleverly thought-out. I'm gonna raise a wall of undead! Oh my god, why didn't we ever think of that! It's genius! So I look forward to that. Again, it's a take on something, even if it's different. With Mythos, it's a thing where...it's mostly done, and you want the guys who were working on it, pouring their vision into it, their heart and soul into it, to be the ones who complete it. Short of somebody else being involved with the project, I don't really see that happening.

GameCyte: Is there pressure to move in the same direction, and go for that bold, colorful style, or do you perhaps think that there might be an unserved market for dark action-RPG titles like the ones zealous Photoshop enthusiasts were making ’screenshots’ of?

MS: I’m loving this controversy, by the way. The same thing happened when we were making Diablo and Diablo II — there was a lot of criticism that it was just too gray and too dark, and that people wanted brighter colors. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t with these sorts of games. I think that the team that’s making the game should set the tone of the game, and shouldn’t try to make it something that someone else did… really, they have to create their own vision for the game, and be true to that vision.

Now, I love the really super-gritty, super-dark look of the original Diablos, but I also like what I’ve seen of Diablo III so far. I think both can be wonderful games. What we were doing with Mythos was even more bright and colorful than what Diablo III is shaping up to be, just because we were aiming at a little bit different market; it was going to be a global game, and in Asia they’re very much into the brighter colors and lighter atmosphere. I think also, since Mythos was a social game, something that you’re going to be spending a lot of time not playing, it’s something that you probably want a little bit more inviting atmosphere for.

TB: It also allows us a little more latitude in item sales; if people want to be heavily customizing their characters, there’s someone who always wants to walk around carrying a fish in a floppy hat.

MS: In Diablo I we had naked corpses stuck on stakes and it was really kind of gruesome… not where you’d want to meet your girlfriend and get married.


GameCyte: I’m curious what kind of cues you might be taking from Blizzard on your next titles. Bill Roper once said Mythos was the most genuine Diablo title; but as Blizzard North becomes further fragmented, will you be able to make that kind of claim again?

TB: I think we’re kind of moving toward making a slightly different kind of title at this point. Diablo III is coming down the tracks, and I’d rather be on the tracks alongside them rather than directly in front of them when they come rolling through. What we really started to do with Mythos was make it more of a social action-MMO, where there was a shared overworld where people spent a lot of time interacting, and I think it’s important for the free-to-play microtransaction market for people to be able to spend time interacting face to face in larger groups, rather than “I only see you in the lobby and then I’m off with my party for the remainder of the time.”

TB: We still want the random, fast play experience that we had, but it’s important for us to differentiate ourselves from Diablo III and Sacred 2 as they come down the line by having that sort of shared community feel to the game. Auction houses, crafting, more traditional MMO trapping within the context of a game that’s much faster paced and doesn’t require the same sort of time commitment.

MS: Diablo III is not shaping up to be an MMO at all; Diablo III is in the vein of extending what Diablo II did. What we’re doing is taking the Diablo-style action and moving it into the MMO space, and not into the casual games space. The missions are different, and we’re really excited about Diablo III. We can’t wait for it to come out, just so we can play it, and we have nothing but respect for the Blizzard guys. They’re incredibly talented, and I know that Diablo III’s going to be a top-notch game. But, fortunately for us, we’re going in a slightly different direction.

How close to release do you think Mythos was? How successful do you think it could have been in today's market?
We were scheduled to go into Open Beta in October, with commercialisation 2 months after that - we were very, very close. We all believed in what we were doing with Mythos, and think it could have been pretty successful, especially with ongoing development.

Did the announcement of Diablo 3, and the huge immediate interest in that sequel, make you feel Mythos was not up to the comparison or do you think the two games serve a different market?
Like everyone else, we watched the Diablo 3 videos avidly on release, and had long and intense discussions about their approach, and what we could learn from them. I think there are many great lessons for us in what they've done - but I think we all believe we need to differentiate ourselves from Diablo 3 to succeed. Since Diablo appears to be staying with the classic Battle.Net setup ( I'm sure with some great new features ), we felt that we should focus on our differentiating factors - a more social environment with a large shared space, and a free-to-play business model to lower the barrier to entry. I think we can definitely succeed as long as we make sure to forge our own identity.

Keeping the game approachable is key for Wilson. “It’s one of the reasons why we made some of the choices we made, like when we pulled out the potion system,” he said. “When we wanted to add a hot bar we knew we had to pull the potion stuff out. Every time we add something, we have to pull something out to keep the game very simple and straightforward to play.”

“One of the things that happened in ‘Diablo II’,” Wilson continued, “was the player was faster than most of the monsters and had pretty much infinite health because they would just pop as many potions as they wanted. So when you have a player who has more mobility, more health and endless power, essentially the only thing you can really do to challenge [the players] is to kill them… by just spiking the difficulty.”