Rod Fergusson explained in an interview why Diablo 4 approaches things very differently than its predecessor Diablo 3 and that is why there is already a lot of content in the pipeline.
When Diablo 3 was released in 2012, service games were still in their infancy. Many games relied on expansions back then, not on live seasons and certainly not on free additional content.
Nevertheless, Diablo 3 was something of a pioneer in terms of seasons. Every few months, there were new mechanics to keep the gameplay fresh and give players a reason to play a new character in the new season. They made it until Season 28, but now it’s over.
However, Rod Fergusson, General Manager of the Diablo franchise, said in an interview with the YouTube channel “Kinda Funny Games” that more should have been done to provide decent content and innovations over the 11 years of Diablo 3 – the biggest problem of its predecessor, which had to get by with just one expansion over all those years.
They have adapted to this and are taking a completely different course with Diablo 4.
Diablo 4 had some worshippers praying to Lilith in Berlin at its release. We were there, check it out in the short video:
What is different about Diablo 4? They wanted to create something that lasts a long time and continually benefits from new content. For this, they set up the development team quite differently and also had different expectations of themselves: “The release of Diablo 4 is not the end, it’s the beginning,” says Fergusson.
They want to offer many years of seasons, with each one offering more than the times of Diablo 3. In addition, expansions are also part of the fixed program of Diablo 4. Therefore, the team and the structures had to be designed accordingly:
If you make a game like [Diablo 4], you have to make it sustainable. You can’t push the team and say that once the release is through, it’s like a finish line and everyone collapses exhausted.
Because you know what: We have a season coming soon, we have the Week-2 patch in the works, we need balance changes – you have to build your team and structure so that it’s sustainable, because we have to deliver all the time.
We are working on things in parallel. While I sit here, we are bringing the main game to market, we are finishing Season 1, we are working on Season 2, we are working on Expansion 1, we’re starting on Expansion 2. All of this is happening right now.
The interview does not provide information about future content – only a brief statement about the legendary cow level. However, it is already clear that two expansions are apparently in the works, surpassing Diablo 3 directly.
You can watch the entire English interview on the YouTube channel of Kinda Funny Games (via youtube.com).
Despite the 11 years since the release of Diablo 3, the game still had a lot of fans who can no longer expect innovations after the end of Season 28. It remains to be seen whether Diablo 4 can close this gap. What do you think?
More information about the endgame of the new Diablo can be found here: Diablo 4: Overview of endgame content – These activities are available after the campaign
