Blizzard Entertainment and Cryptic Studios veteran Bill Roper has recently joined the Disney Interactive Media Group to oversee the creative direction for the publisher's Marvel-based games.
Roper will serve as the DIMG's new vice president of the Marvel franchise, and will also help the company identify potential developers to partner with on future projects.
"We are pleased to have Bill join our team," said Alex Seropian, Disney Interactive's senior vice president and general manager of core games. "With 17 years of experience in the worldwide gaming industry, we are confident that Bill has the creative vision necessary to help guide the next wave of development and product for DIMG’s Marvel Games."
Roper previously worked at Blizzard Entertainment as vice president of the Diablo studio Blizzard North, and in 2003 he left to found the now-defunct Hellgate: London developer Flagship studios.
He then served as chief creative officer at Champions Online developer Cryptic Games until he resigned in 2010 to "look for new opportunities."
Earlier this year Gamasutra had a two-part interview series with Roper in which he discussed his time at Flagship and Cryptic.
Without having personally met him, this sounds like a far better choice than most of Disney's game franchise handling. The Marvel franchises deserve someone who will utilize them to make good games (not Disney franchise-riding crap). Good luck!
