Jay Wilson

Jay Wilson was the Game Director of Diablo III until January 2013 when he resigned and moved on to another undisclosed project within Blizzard Entertainment. Jay was the most frequently-interviewed member of the Diablo III team, and his quotes fill the content articles of this wiki.

Jay Wilson.

Prior to joining Blizzard entertainment in 2007, Jay worked at Relic Entertainment where he'd served as the lead designer on Dawn of War, an RTS game not completely unlike StarCraft. After joining Blizzard Jay contributed to MMO World of WarCraft, where he has been immortalised as "Ja'y Nosliw" the Skybreaker General.

Jay is a passionate game developer, and though he has not created or stamped his unique vision on any titles, he is involved in all aspects of game creation.

"I can't think of anything that makes me happier than watching people play a game I made and have fun. People bring a lot of things to the world and some are good and some are bad, but I can't think of anything you could bring to the world that's better than fun. And that's why I like to make games."

Joining the Diablo 3 Team

Jay discussed how he came to work for Blizzard in a June 2008 interview.

How did you wind up working on the Diablo project?

Jay Wilson: Well, I was working at Relic Entertainment. I started on RTSs originally and I interviewed at Blizzard ... I was actually very happy at Relic, but I had friends who had moved to Blizzard and they got me an interview. I was like, "Cool, Rob Pardo! I get to be interviewed by him and he's an idol of mine!" For me, it was just a cool experience to be able to talk to Rob for an hour. And we continued to talk and I went to the first BlizzCon [October 2005] and they just talked me into it. Essentially, I've always been a huge fan of Blizzard and it just felt like a natural fit.

Diablo II Play Experience

From a December 2008 interview

1UP: What are your "main" classes in Diablo II?

Jay Wilson: My most developed was a Barbarian. Well, no -- actually, it's my Necromancer. While the Barbarian was what I played when the game came out, my Necromancer is all I really play now. He's in the 90s and has pretty much gotten everything he can get, so all I do is run around and kill things to see if something superawesome drops. But my Barbarian was my first class, and my Necromancer is my main. While I did play each class to take it to Hell difficulty, those two were my loves. I had a pretty cool Sorceress, but I don't think I got her as high.

Personal Details

Jay has a wife and young daughter, who he allows to play Diablo 3, even though he does not let her play other M-rated games.

According to the Diablo: IncGamer's interview with Jay, his favorite color is green, his favorite meal is his mother's lasagna and his favorite animal is his cat.

Jay's Eyes

Jay Wilson's increasing weary and serious expressions, especially as seen in photos from the Diablo3.cc Blizzard Irvine visit and interview in May 2011, spawned various affectionately humorous DiabLOL captioned images, and eventually resulted in the creation of a tightly-cropped image of just his tired eyes, as a sort of counterpart to the long-running Bobby's eyes meme.

Controversy

Wilson ran into trouble when commenting on an interview between IncGamers and Diablo creator and Blizzard founder David Brevik where Brevik stated that Diablo 3 wasn't the game he would have designed. Taking offence Wilson commented on Facebook saying "fuck that loser" which caused an outcry amongst fans and dismay from other developers. . Wilson quickly issued an apology on the comment but by that point the comment had gone viral and was to follow Wilson around for the remainder of his time on the D3 Team, turning up in comment sections of many interviews with or articles about him.

Professional Bio

A list of all Jay Wilson's game credits, prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment.

• 2006 - Present - Blizzard Entertainment
• 2006 - Company of Heroes - Senior Designer
• 2004 - Warhammer 40k Dawn of War - Design and Story
• 2003 - Homeworld 2 - Additional Design Support
• 2003 - Impossible Creatures - Lead Designer and Story
• 1998 - King's Quest: Mask of Eternity - Quality Assurance
• 1998 - Blood II: The Chosen - Game Concept and Lead Designer

Jay in the News

• See all news items relating to Jay Wilson from Diablo.IncGamers.com.

• Jay Wilson's Blog updates on the official Diablo 3 Site.

Media of Jay Wilson

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  Jay in his pirate hat, from the Jace Hall show.

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  Jay in his pirate hat, from the Jace Hall show.

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  Jay so serious. By Caniroth.

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  Serious Jay has doubts. By Flux.

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  Release date Jay is not amused. By Risingred.

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  Jay sees your soul. By Caniroth.