With the release of Diablo 4's first expansion, key developers offer insights into their vision for the series' latest entry, as well as their broader goals for the Diablo franchise.
Blizzard Talks Goals with Diablo 4
Devs Want to Focus on Content that Players Will Enjoy
Blizzard has expressed a strong commitment to sustaining Diablo 4 for the long haul, especially given that it's the company's fastest-selling game to date. In a recent interview with VGC, Diablo series head Rod Fergusson and Diablo 4 executive producer Gavian Whishaw discussed how maintaining longevity and sustained interest across all installments of Blizzard's acclaimed action RPG dungeon crawler series is a win-win situation for them—be it Diablo 4, 3, 2, or even the original game.
Rod Fergusson emphasized Blizzard's approach to game longevity, saying, "One of the things you’ll notice about Blizzard is that we tend not to turn any games off, it’s very rare. So you can still go play Diablo and Diablo 2, Diablo 2: Resurrected, and Diablo 3, right? And so just people playing Blizzard games is awesome."
When asked about the potential issue of Diablo 4's player count being on par with previous entries, Fergusson clarified that it's not a concern for Blizzard. "It’s not a problem that people are playing whatever version," he stated. "That’s one of the things that’s been really exciting about Diablo 2: Resurrected, is that there’s a very large fan base for that game, which is a remaster of a 21-year-old game. So just having people in our sort of ecosystem, playing and loving Blizzard games, is a huge positive."
Fergusson also stressed that Blizzard encourages players to enjoy whichever game they prefer. While there are financial incentives for players to transition from Diablo 3 to Diablo 4, he noted that the company isn't focused on pushing players away from older titles.
"And whether they’re playing Diablo 4 today, or tomorrow, or whenever, the goal for us is to make the content and the features that are so desirable that people want to come and play Diablo 4," Fergusson said. "And that’s why we continue to support things like Diablo 3 and Diablo 2, and so for us, it’s really a goal of 'let’s just make stuff that’s so appealing that people want to come play'."
Diablo 4 Gears Up for Vessel of Hatred Release
Excitement is building for Diablo 4 players as the game gears up for the release of its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, set to launch on October 8. The Diablo team has shared a video detailing what players can expect from this new content.
The expansion introduces a new region called Nahantu, filled with new towns, dungeons, and ancient civilizations waiting to be explored. It also continues the game's campaign, with players embarking on a quest to find Neyrelle, a key character, leading them into an ancient jungle to thwart the sinister plans of the evil overlord Mephisto.
