Game designer Stieg Hedlund joins fitness gaming pioneer Quell as VP of Design
Quell, the UK-based fitness gaming developer and publisher, is pleased to announce the appointment of Stieg Hedlund as VP of Design, bringing with him sector-leading experience from a storied career in design and development across both AAA and indie game titles.
Hedlund is well known for having invented dozens of now-standard game mechanics, and brings his expertise of game design innovation to Quell as the company works to revolutionise the burgeoning fitness gaming sector. In his new position he will be responsible for leading development of Quell’s first game, Shardfall, and future games under development, as the countdown to the launch of Quell’s proprietary ‘Impact’ fitness gaming platform grows closer.
Hedlund is credited with being the ‘Father of the ARPG1’ from his time as Senior Game Developer at Blizzard, where he led development of legendary RPG hack-and-slash Diablo II, which was the recipient of more than 15 prestigious game awards, including Game of the Year from the Interactive Achievement Awards. With Hedlund responsible for the game’s design, through concept to final balancing, Diablo II went on to sell more than 15 million copies and on release set the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling video game of all time. At Blizzard, he also provided senior design leadership during the development of the iconic StarCraft, which was hailed among GameSpot’s ‘Greatest Games of All Time’ and was the winner of multiple game of the year awards.
Following his time at Blizzard, Hedlund took on a corporation-wide role at Ubisoft Red Storm, focusing on the eponymous Tom Clancy series of video games. His conception of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter as a line extension of Ghost Recon proved inspired, with the game having a lasting impact on the tactical shooter genre and achieving a 90% Metacritic score. He further led the level design of Ghost Recon 2 and Rainbow Six 3.
Hedlund has held additional senior positions at Zynga, nWay and Turpitude, and moves to Quell from his position as Vice President of Design at King, where he led design for the New Games Division.
