There is no one who has followed Blizzard Entertainment through its journey with the Diablo franchise that is not anticipating the release of the Diablo 4. The first game in the series was released in 1996 and it immediately changed role-playing games by introducing maps that made the game a little different for every player as well as bringing in fast and real-time combat.
Diablo 2 came in 2000 and before we saw anything new in the series, it was until 2012 when the Diablo 3 was released followed by two expansions; Diablo III: Reaper of Souls and Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer in 2014 and 2017 respectively. One thing that all the games maintained was the same power that the first in the franchise came with.
Having sold over 36 million copies, the franchise is among the best selling franchises out there. This at least makes it clear why fans are anxious to see the release of the fourth part of the game. There is the certainty that the game will be released but the question that remains is, when? Here is all we know about the release of the game.
Diablo 4 Release Date
Even though Blizzard Entertainment is yet to make an announcement on the release of the Diablo 4, it is known for certain that it will be released. More so, the company has revealed that it has started work on several Diablo projects stating that while some are going to take longer time, others are going to be seen much sooner. Although it has promised to reveal details on the projects soon, our fingers still remain crossed.
With that said, no one will be able to state when exactly the fourth part of the game will be released and whether it is among the short-term projects or the long.
As it stands, there is yet to be any trailer since Blizzard is yet to announce the release of the game nor is there any information on the characters, storyline, and gameplay.
News, Rumors, and Announcements
Just as it is with all other highly anticipated games, there are confirmed news and unconfirmed rumors that are being shared around regarding the game. Here are some of the most important information:
There are multiple projects being worked on
As stated above, the biggest of the news we have is that Blizzard is working on more than one projects on the Diablo franchise at the moment. Since there is no further revelation that has been made, there is no way to know if it is working on a spinoff to the Diablo 3 or it is yet another sequel.
The guess we are making here is that Blizzard will first release a spinoff of the 3 before it will release the fourth part of the game much later in the future. The bet is in consideration of the fact that it took many years for the third part of the series to be released. The possibility that it may come in a shorter time than the 3 is there but maybe not now since we all know that Blizzard spends more time than many others in developing its games.
Blizzard is hiring for a new Diablo project
Back in August 2018, Blizzard began hiring people for a new Diablo project which it has not revealed anything about. The joblisting was placed on Blizzard’s website looking for a dungeon artist to handle its unannounced multiple Diablo projects.
As far as many are concerned, specifying that they are looking for people to work on an unannounced Diablo project is in itself a way of announcing that it is working on something. But What?
The questions
Of course, there are the many questions that many are asking if D4 is the project being worked upon. One of the questions has to do with the team involved in its development. The concerns regarding the team are because Blizzard has lost two people who were very important in the development of previous games in the franchise.
See Also: Warcraft 4 Release Date, Trailer, News, Announcements, and Rumors
In 2016, Jay Wilson who was the director of Diablo 3 left the company in order to pursue his original passion as a writer. There was also Josh Mosqueira who came and took over as the director of the Diablo 3. He also left the company in 2016. With the departure of these two people, it may be a long walk for Blizzard, but it is not something it cannot pull off.
Blizzard is working to release Diablo 3 on Nintendo Switch
Beyond just looking at the future, there is an effort to get the Diablo 3 on Nintendo Switch towards the end of 2018. Even though the first time the report emerged that Blizzard wanted to have the game on the console, the company came out to deny the claims only for it to be later confirmed.
What we hope to see with the Diablo 4
If you can call any franchise perfect, Diablo may as well be it. But because each franchise has its problem and you can call none perfect, we have drawn some improvements for the Diablo 4 in case Blizzard is beginning to work on it.
- Let there be an offline option for PC gamers. In the same way as it is with console gamers, it will be generous of Blizzard to provide an offline option for PC gamers with the release of the Diablo 4. This will help many gamers to enjoy the game even when they are having a problem with internet connection.
- One thing with Diablo is that there are many things that are not fully clear about the game including the available skills and their potentials. It will really be helpful to make that clear in the fourth part of the franchise.
- One of the silent flaws of the Diablo 3 is that there are no much combats available, so it tends to be repetitive. This is another thing that we want to be changed in the next installment of the game.
Conclusion
We have waited for Diablo 3 for as much as 12 years before it was finally released, so it can as well be said that we have finished our course on how to patiently wait. However, we still very much await an announcement on the release of the Diablo 4. On the multiple projects that the company is working on, the hope, for now, is that we get to hear something at the BlizzCon in November.
