In this exclusive Gamasutra interview, Age of Empires co-creator and Iron Lore co-founder Brian Sullivan discusses the studio's first game, Titan Quest, its alleged Diablo inspiration, and the effect of World of Warcraft on PC game sales. Discussing the Diablo comparisons with the newly-released PC title, Sullivan is frank: "Core Titan Quest game play is very similar to Diablo, because Diablo basically defined the genre,” Sullivan said. “Most RTS games and most shooters have core game play that is also very similar to other games in the genre. I think if there were more games in the action RPG genre, we would not be perceived as a clone, because all the other games would also have similar game play. Titan Quest is innovative in many areas including topic, class system, and editor, to name a few." On this last point, Sullivan makes a particularly interesting point about the current state of the PC game market: "As for making a name for themselves in the market, Sullivan feels that some of the biggest competition comes from MMOs, not because they are competitors in the genre, but because people simply enjoy playing them so much. “For retail PC games, I think the biggest problem is World of Warcraft,” Sullivan said. “It is such a compelling MMO game that it sucks up a lot of money and time that would normally be spent on other retail PC games.”" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the topic for more on the well-received Titan Quest and Sullivan's history and plans (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).