Over the weekend, Chris Wilson, co-founder of Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Video games, shocked ARPG devotees with an surprising announcement. Throughout an hourlong interview with Diablo designer David Brevik in celebration of Diablo 2’s twenty fifth anniversary, Wilson revealed that he is began a brand new recreation growth studio, and that he is already obtained a brand new recreation mission underway.
An official submitting says that Wilson’s capability as Grinding Gear Video games director resulted in February 2025, marking his departure from the studio he’d cofounded in 2006. Wilson’s personal web site, nevertheless, says that he’d left the position earlier, having stepped down on the finish of 2023 “after working Grinding Gear Video games for 17 years.”
After the open beta launch of Path of Exile in 2013, Wilson grew to become the studio’s public face, steadily changing into synonymous with the updates and additions revealed throughout league bulletins all through the sport’s growth.
In Might 2018, after publishing Path of Exile’s Chinese language launch, Tencent acquired an 87% majority shareholding of Grinding Gear Video games. Wilson and fellow GGG co-founders Jonathan Rogers and Erik Olofsson maintained a 13% possession stake till they bought their remaining shares to Tencent in March 2024.
In his interview with Brevik, Wilson stated he took “a 12 months of retirement” after leaving Grind Gear, which he spent touring and “sorting my Magic playing cards and so forth.” (As “issues you are able to do after promoting your organization” go, that is a good selection.)
“I spent a 12 months doing that after GGG and it was stress-free, however I had the itch that I wished to be artistic once more. And I wished to be artistic in a means that did not contain being a CEO of a 200 individual firm,” Wilson stated.
After realizing “probably the most enjoyable I had making Path of Exile was jamming in my storage with Jonathan and Eric within the early days,” Wilson based Gentle Sample earlier this 12 months, which he calls “a small studio with some pals.”
Wilson confirmed that he and Gentle Sample are already engaged on a recreation, and whereas the studio will not be able to debate any particulars for a while, he stated going public with the studio on a Diablo 2 anniversary wasn’t a coincidence.
“We’re engaged on a small mission that I do not intend to speak about—probably—for quite a lot of years,” Wilson stated. “My solely clue is that it is considerably telling that we’re speaking about that immediately.”
Additionally telling is that an Artwork Director job posting on the Gentle Sample web site says the studio is in search of candidates who possess “a deep familiarity with Diablo II. Not simply enjoying it, however understanding what makes its world, artwork, and techniques so enduring.”
I do not need to brag, however—due to my expertise in deduction—I consider I am detecting a pattern.
