Instead of a big announcement for a sequel to Diablo 3 as a hype-inducing finale to BlizzCon 2018, fans were given news that a Diablo game for mobile devices would be coming out soon. Anger towards Blizzard regarding this has been growing these past few days with no end in sight. Had BlizzCon gone the way it was originally intended, things would probably be very different right now.
Two unnamed sources close to Blizzard told Kotaku
According to the two sources, the reason this was changed was because the development team felt that they weren’t ready yet to really commit to the announcement, considering the game had “changed drastically over the past four years and may continue to change further.” Kotaku also noted that Diablo 4 has already gone through “at least two different iterations under different directors.”
It is impossible to know whether or not this is in fact the truth. The timely appearance of such a statement should raise some eyebrows. Two days ago, there was literally a thread on the Diablo subreddit describing how such a move might be the only way for the company to save face.
Blizzard needs to show a Diablo 4 logo at closing ceremony. It’s the only way they can save themselves. from Diablo
Fast forward to today, and we suddenly get two unnamed Blizzard sources describing that they had precisely intended to do just that? This all seems a little too convenient.
A comment on the Kotaku article also pointed this out.
Schreier had a solid response that also makes a lot of sense.
Regardless, even if Diablo 4 was originally meant to be confirmed at BlizzCon, it doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t, nor does it change the fact that Blizzard somehow was naïve enough to believe fans would actually be satisfied with the event ending on a mobile game reveal.
At this point, one thing is certain – they’re clearly losing touch with a significant chunk of their player-base.
Featured Image Source: KnowTechie
