Former lead world designer of Diablo III, Leonard Boyarsky, left Blizzard earlier this week to join up with Obsidian Entertainment.
According to Boyarsky's personal facebook page, he left Blizzard earlier last week. On April 11th, Boyarsky appeared in a photo on Facebook posted by fellow Obsidian developer Tim Cain, who jokingly hoped his new co-worker "doesn't talk too much."
This is a reunion between Boyarsky and Cain, who have worked together in the past on several major products prior to Obsidian Entertainment. Most notably, Boyarsky and Cain, along with developer Jason Anderson, were co-founders of Troika Games in 1998. Troika would develop three titles before their closure in 2005, which included the cult RPG's Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines.
Prior to forming Troika Games, Boyarsky worked at Interplay, starting there in 1992 doing freelance work before being officially hired in 1995. His first major title as an art director was the dungeon crawler Stonekeep, before working as the art director on the first Fallout game, designing the famous Vault Boy character and much of the "retro" 1950s art style. He would also work on Fallout 2 before parting ways with Interplay in 1998.
Since the collapse of Troika games, Boyarsky has been working with Blizzard Entertainment, where he spent the next ten years of his career. He would primarily guide the level, character and quest design as the lead world designer for Diablo III, which was released back in 2012.
Currently, Obsidian Entertainment is developing three titles; the free-to-play multiplayer shooter Armored Warfare, the Isometric RPG Tyranny, which was announced earlier this year at GDC, and Pathfinder Adventures, an RPG card game in conjunction with Pathfinder publisher Paizo.
Boyarsky joining Obsidian has sparked some speculation as to what other projects the developer has in store, including rumors of another Fallout title or a World of Darkness game, now that Boyarsky and Cain working together again and Obsidian's close relationship with World of Darkness owner Paradox.
So what do you think of this story? Is it good to see Leonard Boyarsky again with Tim Cain and Obsidian? Leave your comments below.
