[ UPDATE: A statement from Blizzard claims that it did not pull any announcements from BlizzCon, but the same report claims a video was made for some form ofDiabloannouncement. The statement reads: “First off we want to mention that we definitely hear our community. We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but we can say that we didn’t pull any announcements from BlizzCon this year or have plans for other announcements. We do continue to have different teams working on multiple unannouncedDiabloprojects, and we look forward to announcing when the time is right.”]
Over the weekend, Blizzard Entertainment found itself steeped in controversy with its fan base after closing out its keynote address at BlizzCon 2018 with a reveal of a mobile project for its classic action-RPG franchise,DiabloImmortal. When it became clear thatDiablo4was not going to be mentioned, many went on to express disappointment with the company for not at least showing a fragment of evidence that confirmed the fourth numbered installment. Interestingly enough, a recent report has now indicated that Blizzard initially had plans to reveal the sequel at BlizzCon 2018, but ultimately pulled the announcement from the schedule.
According to a couple of anonymous sources who spoke with Kotaku, Blizzard was initially going to teaseDiablo 4with a video of company co-founder Allen Adham telling the audience that the game was indeed in development, but not ready to show just yet. Apparently, though, Blizzard decided to change its BlizzCon plans for the franchise at some point in the last couple of weeks. Evidently, theDiabloteam wasn’t ready to give an announcement due toD4having drastically changed over the past four years, and that it may continue to do so.
For those unaware, about two weeks before BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard shared a blog post that stopped just short of actually confirmingDiablo 4, with the publisher and developer asserting thatfans should measure their expectations, as the game would not make an appearance at this year’s event. Nevertheless, one of the unnamed sources claimed Blizzard was still going to assure fans thatD4was in development by playing the aforementioned teaser video at BlizzCon, but then those plans were nixed.
Thus far, many who have weighed in on the matter, both fans and industry figures alike, have contended that if Blizzard simply closed out its BlizzCon 2018 address with even a brief acknowledgement ofDiablo 4, the company could have avoided this situation in the first place. For instance,Diablo 2producer Mark Kern recently argued thatD4’s exclusion from the event shows thatBlizzard doesn’t understand gamers anymore, and that the company should have dropped a short teaser forD4right afterDiablo Immortal’s announcement.
Although Kern’s overall opinion on the matter is definitely debatable, there are still some truths that can be gleaned from his and others' critiques of Blizzard’s recent presentation of the direction in which theDiablofranchise is moving. After all, Blizzard contemporaries such as Bethesda had been stuck in a similar spot earlier this year, with the latter having been keenly aware of players craving even the smallest scrap ofThe Elder Scrolls 6news during E3 2018, and it managed to meet fans' expectations by being forthright.
Despite not having anything significant to show for the followup toSkyrim, Bethesda sated most of its fans by simply makinga public reveal thatTES6is in pre-production. So, while it’s anyone’s guess as to how public perception of theDiablofranchise will be shaped following all this, it’s worth recognizing a cogent case can be made that Blizzard could have evaded the whole debacle by using BlizzCon 2018 as a means to just openly admit thatDiablo 4is an eventuality for PC in the near-distant future.
