J'INTERVIEW LE NOUVEAU DIRECTEUR DE DOFUS !

Interview Summary

Imbas’s Background and New Role

Imbas, whose real name is Erwan, became Dofus game director in April. He has roughly 26 years of experience in the games industry, including nearly 20 years at Ubisoft, where he worked on Might & Magic, Beyond Good & Evil, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Assassin’s Creed, For Honor and Watch Dogs.

He later ran a studio developing a turn-based RPG inspired by Celtic and Irish legends, but the studio closed before the game was released.

At Ankama, Imbas leads the direction of the Dofus project and works with team leads, developers, designers, marketing, community staff and players. His responsibilities include shaping a long-term vision, supporting the team and setting priorities—not personally managing all 60 team members.

He is learning the current game by playing a single-account Cra and taking extensive notes. He has also begun exploring Ankama’s other games.

How He Views Dofus and Its Future

Imbas sees Dofus as more than a nostalgia game. Its turn-based tactical MMO format, distinctive Crossmoons universe and recognizable art style remain unusual and appealing.

He believes the game could reach more players internationally, particularly fans of anime, manga and tactical RPGs. Better onboarding and adapting the game’s humor and references for other languages could help, without losing its identity.

He also sees turn-based play as well suited to adults balancing gaming with work and family. Players can progress at their own pace instead of needing to coordinate every session with others. Ankama’s strengths in transmedia, including animation, comics and other lore, could also help introduce new audiences to the game world.

The team is planning with Dofus’s 25th anniversary in 2029 in mind, while aiming to keep the game healthy well beyond that.

Priorities and Team Structure

Imbas identified two major areas for improvement:

1. Usability and accessibility

   • Make it clearer what players are meant to do, how quests work and what steps are required.
   • Improve the interface and the information provided to players.
   • Smooth out abrupt difficulty spikes and address outdated content without excessive hand-holding.

2. Technical debt and development tools

   • Continue replacing aging code and systems left over from earlier technology, despite the move to Unity.
   • Address issues such as memory leaks.
   • Improve tools for designers and developers so the team can create content more efficiently and reliably.

The Dofus team is organized into three areas:

• Continuous Improvement: Fixes, quality-of-life changes, optimization and adjustments to existing content.
• Evolution: New content and features.
• Events: Temporary activities, tournaments, speedruns and demonstrations.

A new player-experience role, held by Cap, gathers feedback from forums, surveys, moderators, influencers, playtests and game data. The aim is to combine players’ expressed opinions with the behavior of the quieter majority, then help the team set priorities rather than trying to satisfy every group at once.

Topics Raised by the Community

• Temporis: Its absence was attributed mainly to the workload of the Unity transition and a desire to prioritize the core game. Imbas is open to the idea and discussed the possibility of a separate team or rotating event teams, but no return has been announced or committed to.
• Hero mode: Imbas likes the idea of controlling a party, particularly for players who cannot easily schedule group sessions. It is under discussion, but there is no active project or confirmed release plan.
• Mobile Dofus 3: It is not currently planned. Imbas personally questions whether the existing subscription model fits mobile and notes that a mobile version could overlap with other Ankama games.
• Bots and moderation: Tackling bots is a high priority, but enforcement is complicated by technical evasion, proxies and legal procedures. Imbas does not yet have a position on whether moderators should be paid employees; he is still learning the history and constraints. He also argued that bot prevention should not make the game worse for legitimate players.
• Heroic servers: Imbas suggested their return was unlikely.
• Combat timers: He personally finds timers stressful, especially for newer players who need time to read spell and monster information. He has raised the issue with the team, but no specific change was confirmed.
• Upcoming content: Imbas teased a substantial end-of-year zone intended to offer something different from familiar Dofus content. A major Titan encounter will be part of it. An easier version should be possible for lower-level or solo players, while the main challenge is aimed at high-level groups. These details were presented as a preview, not a complete announcement.
• Other ideas: The interview also touched on a possible Crossmoons trading-card game and other personal creative initiatives, but these were not described as confirmed projects. Imbas said the next major plan announcement was expected to address some community questions.

Featured People and Sources

• Humility — Interviewer and video creator.
• Imbas (Erwan) — Dofus game director and interview guest.
• Cap — Player-experience lead, discussed during the interview.
• Rbec — Associated with the Continuous Improvement team, discussed during the interview.

Games and franchises referenced include Dofus, Wakfu, Dofus Touch, Dofus Retro, Waven, World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Might & Magic, Baldur’s Gate 3, Expedition 33, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Diablo, Path of Exile and Teamfight Tactics.