Diablo 3 lead designer leaves Blizzard for Obsidian

Leonard Boyarsky, one of the co-founders of Troika Games and recent lead designer on Diablo 3, has left Blizzard Entertainment, according to his Facebook page. He's now employed at Obsidian Entertainment, a move announced by both the company and Timothy Cain, another Troika Games founder.

Boyarsky was employed at Blizzard since 2006, according to his Linkedin. During his tenure, he served as Diablo 3's lead world designer. Diablo 3 launched in 2012 and has been updated since its initial release, most recently including a big one in November.

Prior to his time at Blizzard, Boyarsky, Cain and Jason Anderson started Troika Games. The studio closed its doors in 2005 after releasing Vampire — The Masquerade: Bloodlines a year before.

Cain and Boyarsky first worked together at Interplay Productions, where they were key members on the team behind the original Fallout games. Boyarsky was in charge of art direction for both Fallout and Fallout 2; he, Cain and Anderson also designed various gameplay and story elements for the sequel before leaving Interplay for Troika, according to Boyarsky.

We've reached out to the veteran role-playing game designer to ask about his next steps with Obsidian Entertainment. Its latest project, Tyranny, is currently in development. Publisher Paradox Interactive debuted the RPG's first teaser at a press conference during GDC 2016.