Watch the trailer down below:
Since Blizzard announced Diablo IV at their 2019 BlizzCon, fans have been waiting impatiently for a release date. There were rumors in November 2022 that Blizzard was getting ready to release Diablo IV in April 2023, but the company never confirmed or denied them. Before releasing the new Diablo for everyone to play later in the year, Blizzard plans to test server capacity with a public beta in February 2023. When thinking about a new Blizzard game, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the company’s strategy for making money through in-game purchases. Gamers are well aware of the fact that real money was used in Diablo 3‘s auction houses and that Diablo Immortal allowed hundreds of thousands of in-app purchases for a single character. Will Blizzard re-evaluate its strategy in light of the level of criticism it has received, or will it stick with its current course of action? Diablo IV director Joe Shely discussed the game’s business model with Eurogamer. Basically, they won’t be engaging in the shadier free-to-play-style schemes, but they will be using all the modern AAA industry tools to try and squeeze some extra cash out of players. This means that the game store will again have real-money items and the expansions would also cost you (presumably) a lot of money. Well, it seems like there isn’t a lot of good news for those who were looking forward to the game, but with the game’s history, it can be said that this was quite predictable. On the flip side, Joe stated that the team would continue to work on these Season Passes and expansions, and not “go and ship the game and everyone’s gonna go off and do something else” There was also the concern voiced in the interview that Diablo IV would launch with the same online problems that have plagued every other recent Blizzard title. Joe, however, assures us that this time is different, and that Blizzard has gone to great lengths to ensure a smooth launch despite the expected influx of players. Blizzard appears ready for the launch, but we still have to wait until June of next year to play the game. In the meantime, we will keep you posted here on any new information as it becomes available.
