Diablo creator David Brevik reveals the ARPG "that got away," and it's the one I've poured the most hours into in 2025

I recently spoke to Diablo co-creator and Skystone Games president David Brevik about his role on the publishing side of the game industry. The Skystone catalog has some real winners, from PS1-styled action RPG Tyrant's Realm to the cozy sandbox of Tiny Bookshop. I'm excited by what's next on its menu, including extraction RPG Mistfall Hunter and the cooking-themed Arcane Eats. But Brevik also revealed that there was an ARPG he missed the chance to bring on board, and it's the one I've played most this year, even eclipsing my time with PoE 2 and Diablo 4 - Last Epoch.

When I asked Brevik if he'd like a more traditional ARPG in the Skystone Games catalogue, he immediately jumps in to respond. "Absolutely, yeah. I mean, the one that got away was Last Epoch," he tells me. "We were trying to convince them to [let us] become the publisher. In the end they decided to self-publish, but we gave it a good run, and we came close. But yeah, absolutely, that's something that we, that I am always on the lookout for."

Much like Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Games, Last Epoch studio Eleventh Hour Games is very much built from an enthusiasm for games like Diablo. "It's a good team," Brevik says of EHG, "They're really, really nice guys. I've spent a bunch of time with them. They came over and played board games at my house and stuff. He adds, "The whole community of ARPG makers, it seems like we're all pretty close."

It's strange to think what could have been. In fact, my chat with Brevik happened not long after EHG signed a publishing deal with Krafton, saying it would allow them to hire more staff members. The South Korean studio has since stated that it wants to become "an AI-first company," which has naturally caused some concern for fans of Last Epoch such as myself that it could impact the game's future.

This week, EHG CEO Judd Cobler responded to some of these worries on the game's Reddit page. "Krafton is a large company with many subsidiaries - we're hiring many roles and growing." He then expanded on this: "We're also still very strict on hiring people that know this genre extremely well. The games industry is brutal right now so there's lots of talent available - but it's harder to find the talent with a demonstrable love and long history of playing games in the space."

As for why EHG chose to seek out a deal after initially self-publishing, Cobbler explains: "Our options were limited. We needed funding and our options were looking like A: pivot to working on someone else's IP, B: taking funding elsewhere where we liked the company less and would stifle our vision for the product, C: join Krafton, or D: go bankrupt and actually cease to exist.

"I know everyone will call doom and gloom," Cobbler continues, "but I still strongly believe long-term this will allow us to compete in the space in a much bigger way." With Last Epoch's first expansion, Orobyss, on the way, I'm certainly not going to pass any judgment until we actually see what Eleventh Hour Games does next. But I'll always be curious to ponder what it might have looked like in an alternate universe alongside Brevik and Skystone Games.