Hooded Horse and Unfrozen have announced that Jon Van Caneghem, one of the original creators of the Might and Magic Series, is joining the Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era team as a Creative Advisor.
In 1983, Canegham founded New World Computing and helped release Might and Magic: Book One, which was released three years later. He worked on the series until Heroes of Might and Magic 4, and he’s since worked with NCSoft, EA, Trion, and others in his videogame career.
In 2004, he was inducted into the Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame for Strategy and Role-Playing Games.
Now, Canegham is returning to the Might and Magic series with the team at Unfrozen, leading them in things like worldbuilding, game design, and other creative areas of Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. The team is also being supported by Ubisoft, which owns the IP.
To celebrate the news, Unfrozen shared a video with both the CEO, Denis Fedorov, and Canegham himself. Fans can view it below:
Additionally, both have released statements that can be viewed here. However, there are snippets of each, starting with Jon Van Canegham:
“It is a great pleasure to see the world I have built all those years ago thrive and be a part of so many people’s memories. I’m very glad to be able to contribute to it once again and walk this road with all of you who made Might and Magic into the legendary series it is today.”
And Fedorov’s is as follows:
“Jon is an incredible, talented man and a true legend for all the fans of the franchise, whose craftsmanship inspired me to be where I am. We are very pleased that Jon accepted our proposition to become an honorary creative advisor for Unfrozen.”
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is the next game in the series that’s set to release later this year on PC in Early Access. For now, players can check out the free demo for the game on Steam.
For more news on turn-based strategy games, check out the alternate history sim Bonaparte.