“Diablo” is one of the most iconic franchises in the history of gaming, and it took many years for the development of “Diablo 3” to even be confirmed. Needless to say, this was preceded by tons of speculation, rumors and arguments in the community. When the game finally came out, responses were somewhat mixed for several reasons, unlike the universal praise that some expected.
For the most part, fans were disappointed with the art style of “Diablo 3” and the way the game handled its overall presentation. The addition of a real-money auction house was also seen as a very bad move by the community, and all in all the game suffered in reputation quite a bit.
Its release was still successful though, and it made Blizzard a lot of money. The company kept up their work on the game, releasing additional content and eventually dealing away with the auction house on some platforms, improving the situation.
And now, players are speculating about the possibility of “Diablo 4” being announced this year. There are rumors indicating that the game could be showed at BlizzCon in November, and while this possibility has obviously made many fans excited, some are approaching the situation with a more skeptical outlook.
According to some, it’s far too early for a new release in the franchise, and it wouldn’t make sense for Blizzard to drop the game right now. “Diablo 3” is still enjoying a lot of attention, and even though its sales have died down a bit, its player numbers have not.
On the other hand, Blizzard could probably announce the game and release it several years from now, but that also doesn’t seem very likely. The studio seems to favor a very specific approach in the way they do their marketing, as they try to avoid getting their fans hyped up too early before a release.
If the game is indeed announced during this year’s BlizzCon, it should be released in 2017. That would probably be a bit too early indeed, at least looking at the difference between “Diablo 2” and “Diablo 3”. But there are other factors to be considered here, such as the way the industry has changed in recent years.
Rapid development schedules are no longer so difficult to adapt to, and various studios have been managing to bring out their games at an increased pace. Blizzard traditionally prefer to take their time and polish their products to perfection, but they might still benefit from releasing “Diablo 4” earlier than most fans are expecting.
It does seem like the game is in development though, at least that can be inferred from some recent developments. Blizzard are apparently on the lookout for new developers for an unannounced “Diablo” game, and that’s more than enough confirmation for most players. On the other hand, it could be poor wording in the posting, and it may actually be related to additional content for the current “Diablo 3”.
We certainly don’t expect the studio to address those rumors in any case. It’s just not in their style, and they tend to value their privacy a lot more than other developers on the market.
That’s probably part of the reason why their games tend to be surrounded by so much speculation on a regular basis, but this doesn’t seem to work against Blizzard in the end. It benefits the company as it builds a lot of hype around their releases.