Blizzard announced today that Joe Shely is the new game director for Diablo IV.
The previous director, Luis Barriga, left the company in August, along with lead designer Jesse McCree. This followed the revelation of a state investigation into the studio’s toxic workplace environment and sexual harassment claims.
Shely started at Blizzard in 2005 as part of the World of Warcraft team. He has been involved with Diablo IV since 2017. He was also a senior game designer on Diablo III.
In an introductory blog, Shely briefly mentions the turmoil at Blizzard.
“Like many of you, our team has been reflecting upon recent events. A lot has happened since our last blog and the hard work of practicing the values we aspire to must continue. In parallel with that important work, development of Diablo IV continues too.”
The rest of the blog focuses on Diablo IV’s sound design. Diablo IV does not have a release date.