

“I’m honored to continue the vision of Diablo IV as its new Game Director, and I’m humbled to represent the team pouring their hearts into this game,” Shely said in a blog post published Thursday. His responsibilities include “guiding efforts to deliver the deep, compelling systems and visceral combat Diablo is known for, and has been the overall caretaker of the combat experience,” Blizzard said, and he led the team responsible for the first playable demo of Diablo 4 at BlizzCon 2019. Shely has been a member of the Diablo 4 development team since 2017, Blizzard said in his official developer bio. Shely replaces former Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, who exited Blizzard in August in the wake of a lawsuit against the company alleging a toxic workplace environment that subjected female employees to gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

Joe Shely is the new game director of Diablo 4, Blizzard Entertainment revealed Thursday.
