Ex-Blizzard Veterans Form Hyboreal Games

New game developer Hyboreal Games, based in San Carlos, California, has announced its formation by Eric Sexton, Michio Okamura and Steven Woo, all industry veterans and former developers for Blizzard North, following the recent closing of that studio. At the Bay Area-based Blizzard North, the three contributed significantly to the Diablo franchise, which has sold well over 13 million copies worldwide. Okamura is a veteran developer and artist responsible for design on the original Diablo, and a former Creative Lead for Blizzard Entertainment, whereas Sexton is a Senior Game Designer, and Steven Woo a Lead Programmer who was responsible for coordinating the worldwide localization important to the successful international release of Diablo II. The company has announced that it is "creating an original game franchise from conception to completion", going by the name Starfall on the Hyboreal's official website, which also indicates that the game will be a PC title, and also suggests that outsourcing will be an important part of the game's development, commenting that Hyboreal will be "...lowering our development cost through outsourcing to a reliable partner who we had a previous development relationship."