More than four years have passed since it was confirmed, in June 2018, that Blizzard was already working on Diablo IV, the long-awaited new installment of Diablo, probably the most prestigious and beloved saga in the dungeon crawler genre. And it may seem like a lie, but more than ten years have passed since its predecessor, Diablo III, arrived at the points of sale. A long time to wait, which finally seems to be nearing completion.
During these years we cannot say that the franchise has been abandoned. Just a few months ago we received Diablo Immortal, a free to play for PC and devices that has been very successful in terms of collection, but that has been banned in some geographies due to its monetization model, and that, as we have already seen, has a lot of pay to wina formula highly valued by the shareholders of the companies, but that offers a mediocre experience for the common player and a kind of caste system, in which in the end, those who pay the most have no one to play with.
But it hasn’t all been bad news. Also this year we have seen the release of Diablo II Resurrected, which was already announced last year, a reconstruction from cover to cover of the classic and mythical Diablo II that has managed, at the same time, to preserve even the smallest drop of the essence of the original, but update it so that it looks and behaves like a 100% current title. If Immortal hasn’t lived up to the saga, Diablo II Resurrected is at the opposite extreme.
However, and as I indicated before, ten years have passed since the release of Diablo III, so the wait for Diablo IV is getting very, very long. And yes, it is true that at least we have known, for some time now, that Blizzard is working on it. Thus, in recent times we have been learning more about this development, since it will be a game “without end” and that it will have more than 150 dungeons and five regions, and that fortunately it will not replicate the approach pay to win from Immortal, to what the customization section will be like and, more recently, the visual aspect of the game in its phase alpha. Advances, all of them, that are filling the basket of expectations, but that also make the hands of the clock move more slowly, as always happens when you expect something, and even more so if you still do not know when it will arrive.
The good news, very good news actually, is that a leak echoed by Wccftech states that Diablo IV will hit the market next AprilIn about six months. There is no specific date, but the same information suggests that the title could go on pre-sale throughout the month of December. A very smart move, since in this way Diablo IV would not miss the already very close Christmas campaign.
And what time in December would this happen? Well write this date on the calendar: Thursday, December 8. Why? Because it is the day that the Game Awards 2022which will surely be the moment chosen by Blizzard to show new Diablo IV material, announce its release date and, in addition, announce the immediate (or imminent) arrival of the title in the main digital stores in presale mode.
The date of this leak squares, on the calendar, with a rumor from this week, which states that Diablo IV would be about to start its open beta phase, with a selection of users who decide to sign up for it (not to be confused with a public beta, in which anyone who wishes can participate). With a term of up to four months, Blizzard can obtain a formidable amount of feedback on Diablo IV and, in this way, reach the market in April with a very, very polished title, to the delight of the huge community that awaits its arrival like water in May.
