Diablo III art director hands in notice

By Robert Purchese Published 8 August, 2008

"Won't impact game," says Blizzard.

The art director for Diablo III has packed his bags and gone off to start his own company.

However, Blizzard says the departure of Brian Morrisroe "won't impact" the upcoming action role-playing game.

"Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup technology company (outside the game industry), which is why we've posted about the open position. This change won't impact the game," Blizzard told MTV Multiplayer.

"We're really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring on-board will work with the other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward."

Diablo III, the worst-kept secret in the games industry, was unveiled in some style at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in June.

Alongside piles of screenshots there's an impressive cinematic trailer and lengthy bout of gameplay footage to enjoy.

We also wrote lots of words about the game in our Diablo III preview.

Diablo III is in development for PC, but has no release date.

Perhaps the upcoming BlizzCon fan event in San Francisco this October will shed more light on the game.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ps3owner #1 4 years ago

    no release date... shit
    will wait for that to arrive and then upgrade my PC.

  • agparrot #2 4 years ago

    ... after 'too colourful' jibes from fans.

  • the_mtfr #3 4 years ago

    I hope he took the colours with him when he left.

  • ChthonicEcho #4 4 years ago

    Won't impact the game? Yeah, right. Half of it is going to be colourful, half of is going to be a gothic nightmare.
    Edited by 1 at 08/08/08 @ 12:21

  • shamblemonkee #5 4 years ago

    oh shut up you with your boring brown blathers

  • M83J01P97 #6 4 years ago

    Diablo 3 looks great, get over it.

    Anyway, doubt D3 will be out before SC2 which everyone seems to have forgotten about recently...

  • ps3owner #7 4 years ago

    what's SC2?

  • M83J01P97 #8 4 years ago

    StarCraft 2...

  • ps3owner #9 4 years ago

    I am old :)
    when's that due then?

  • illusiondance #10 4 years ago

    i concure that blizzard art is horrible Mr Nick, and i find it amusing that fans of warcraft(worldof) are presumably the ones screaching about bright colour palettes in diablo.
    i cannot comment on how most of their stuff plays though. probably alright.

  • kangarootoo #11 4 years ago

    "oh shut up you with your boring brown blathers"

    Seconded.

    There is no way on earth that a few change-averse whiners had anything to do with his departure. Blizzard just don't conduct themselves that way.

  • Farfarer #12 4 years ago

    Shame to see him go but glad they're not changing the art style.

    The world needs less "next gen realistic grey" games. There are far too many already.

  • kangarootoo #13 4 years ago

    @Nick_JC1

    I'd have some of those overated millions any day.


    Over-rated is a strange term. People use it like it means something, but does it really? Given that rating video games is entirely subjective, how can anything be over-rated? Are people just "wrong"? Can subjective opinion even be wrong? Are gamers who think they are having a great time really actually bored or something?

    Sounds like nonsense to me.

  • mkreku #14 4 years ago

    Weird.. Diablo 3 has gotten a lot of flak for the new comic book sinpired art design. And now the guy responsible for the change leaves?

    My paranoid senses tingle.. in my pants!

  • parm #15 4 years ago

    Yeah, that's it. Blizzard are so insecure, sat atop their humongous piles of money and playerbase of multimillions worldwide, that they'll force an art director to leave because of three or four cocks on DeviantArt who think the game isn't emo enough any more. Right. That's definitely what's going on here. Uhuh.
    Edited by 1 at 08/08/08 @ 13:14

  • skillian #16 4 years ago

    Over-rated is a strange term. People use it like it means something, but does it really? Given that rating video games is entirely subjective, how can anything be over-rated? Are people just "wrong"? Can subjective opinion even be wrong? Are gamers who think they are having a great time really actually bored or something?

    In a philosophical mood today? "Over-rated" is a subjective term anyway, so yes it has meaning, but only as part opf someone's opinion. You might as well say that saying a game is "good" is meaningless.

  • Coughthulu #17 4 years ago

    I like the new style. It looks oil-painting-like, which has a rather nice feel.

    People keep complaining that "HD next-gen is brown!". So here's Blizzard, trying to create a contrasting environment, and you get an outcry from a few misguided people who are, effectively, shouting "Give us more brown!".

    Madness!

  • Shrui #18 4 years ago

    Its worth reading the MTV interview linked on Penny Arcade (Go look for yourself, I can't be arsed finding it again) where they respond directly to the screenshot changes by some of these 'fans'.

    Honestly guys, if you don't like it then piss off back to playing Diablo 2.You sound happy there so why care?

  • chicknstu #19 4 years ago

    Why is there so much fuss being made about Diablo 3's colour palette? It looks great!

    Seems very strange.

  • Dezm0nd #20 4 years ago

    Good job raving fanboys, get a fucking life.

  • bdc #21 4 years ago

    Fucking wankers. You call yourselves 'fans'? This guy had to pack up because of you baying pricks. Shut the fuck up next time.

  • warthog2k #22 4 years ago

    Is eurogamer becoming a mouthpiece for MTV Multiplayer now? This has to be the third story in two days that I've read on here that's been recycled from MTV>

    C'mon EG - I'm not ADHD afflicted enough to want to start reading MTV websites...

  • AstroMoose #23 4 years ago

    I didn't see anyone complaining when TES:oblivion had a way richer colour palette than TES:Morrowind?

    If you like it, spend the money and play it. If you don't, don't. THESE ARE THE SIMPLE RULES OF BEING A CONSUMER.

  • optimusprym8 #24 4 years ago

    If anyone who works in the games industry gave up doing what they are most passionate about simply because of some fuckwits on internet forums, I'll eat my hat, vomit it up and eat it all over again. Those braying, outraged fanboys will still rush to the tills come release day.

  • penhalion #25 4 years ago

    No idea what is supposed to be so bad about the art style. Of much more concern is the fact that there is no release date and blizzard are slow as f£$k when it comes to actually finishing anything. I suspect no-one will even remember this fiasco in two years time.

  • davisorle #26 4 years ago

    @Nick_JC1

    Whats really intresting is the fact u dont seem to understand that its a matter of taste in games. If u liked MMOs and specially PvP you wouldnt say about D2 but WoW since its the best MMO PvP-skill based game out so far. And no im not a fanboy. I just love MMOs. and before some1 says something stupid Ive quit the game since the AoC release and have my guild and im loving that game simply cause im tired of playing WoW so many years over and over. About Diablos whats good is that they are simple, fan and addictive. with D3 im dissapointed cause ive been expecting WAY WAY more but still millions will buy and play D3 like i will. I just know i wont be addicted and will probably finish the solo once and put it on the side.

    Now Bliz isnt overrated. But they havent done anything good for so many years that I dont know why so much hype about them anymore.

  • shamblemonkee #27 4 years ago

    Are you off your rocker!?

    Blizzard have consistently pushed the boundaries with WOW, sure they started from a position that on the surface seemed a carbon copy of what had come before polished till you could see your face in it, but it's not just pure chance that their games are so succesful. Sure they may not have released a game in a while but that's because they can afford the luxuary off boiling a game until its well and truly ready.