Following the loss of D2R Items its director before in 2021 due to various investigations and lawsuits alleging the existence of a "frat boy" culture of work in Activision Blizzard, Diablo IV is expected to be released in 2023. The game will allow the cross-play feature and will allow cross-progression from PC or consoles. Blizzard recently released new information regarding Diablo IV's five and final launch class, called the Necromancer.
We spoke with Diablo 4 Director Joe Shely and general manager of the Diablo franchise Rod Fergusson about the current situation of Diablo as well as what their hopes would be Diablo 4. And the way in which the game was designed to help them achieve them.
It's a big time for Diablo. You've got the launch of Immortal and recently you've revealed the first part the gameplay of Diablo 4. Rod, as the overseer over the Diablo franchise, could you give us a quick temperature assessment of the franchise? Where is it at and where do you think it is required to be?
Rod Fergusson: I think it's never been a more exciting time to be a Diablo player and Diablo player. We have Diablo in play, it's been out for 10 years now and even the most recent season, Season 26. We've got 150 million hours of play.
In actuality, we just have surpassed 65 million players who played Diablo. We released Diablo 2: Resurrected in September. saw Diablo 2: Resurrected come back. We had over five and a half million players that came back to play the D2:R game, a 21-year-old hardcore PC buy D2R Ladder Items game that has now been remastered and available on consoles as well.
