Blizzard Confirms New ‘Diablo’ Products Will Be Revealed in 2019
Blizzard has confirmed, by way of a new post on its official forums, that new “Diablo” products will be revealed over the course of 2019.
The “Diablo” team took to the official Battle.net forums with a special message to “Diablo” fans Thursday that contained this new update. Posted by community manager handle Nevalistis, the message, titled “A Quick Word From Blizzard,” stated that the team’s internal discussions regarding “Diablo” are “ongoing,” with plans for the series “across multiple projects” planned to be revealed over the course of the coming year.
“We are eager to share more about all of our projects, but some will have to wait as we prefer to show you, rather than tell you, about them. It’s going to take some time as we strive to meet your expectations, but now, more than ever, we are committed to delivering Diablo experiences the community can be proud of,” read the note.
The message is in response to the massive backlash following the reveal of “Diablo Immortal” during BlizzCon 2018. The livestreamed event found the company debuting a new smartphone version of the game as part of a collaboration with NetEase.
When the game was first announced in place of a new core “Diablo” game, there was a massive amount of commotion following its debut. A range of strong reactions swept those in attendance and those viewing remotely, which ranged from anger to disbelief. Fans stormed the question and answer session following the reveal and asked if the reveal was an April Fool’s Day joke. Despite Blizzard’s warning to temper expectations and that there would be no major “Diablo” news, attendees still depressed massive disappointment and even anger toward the reveal.
During an interview with Variety, Blizzard stated that “Diablo Immortal” was being worked on from scratch instead of being a re-skin of any existing game, as fans were concerned about. The company also stated that it was indeed working on new “Diablo” games, but declined to comment on if any were “Diablo 4,” as players have been hoping for.
The Blizzard forum response to the new update has been similar in scope overall to the backlash, with readers lamenting “weeks of silence” and the “corporate PR rhetoric” posted via the forums instead of additional news on the “Diablo” franchise. Blizzard has not posted anything further on the matter in the forums at this time, nor has it posted specific details on which “Diablo” products fans can look forward to in 2019.
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