Diablo 4 is intended to run as a service game for quite some time, which has been clear since its release. In a “chain interview,” franchise head Rod Fergusson explained that he already has relatively concrete plans for the next 10 years. Fans are rather cautious about this.
What does the future of Diablo 4 hold?
- Season 8 of Diablo 4 starts on April 29 and brings several changes. The game will become harder, Torment 4 is supposed to be a real challenge, and Belial will return as a boss.
- Blizzard also has plans for the time afterwards. There is an official roadmap for 2025 and the next expansion is set for 2026.
- Now, the General Manager of Diablo, Rod Fergusson, has revealed that he has already planned the next 10 – actually even 12 – years of Diablo in a roadmap.
Here’s what Fergusson says: The gaming website Game File conducted a “chain interview” where interviewed developers could ask a question to the next interviewee. In this case, the question came from Riot co-founder Marc Merrill to Rod Fergusson: “What do you think about the next big turning point and the next part of Diablo?” Fergusson’s answer:
We are planning for the long game. We had a recent long-term planning session, and I made a roadmap, a 10-year roadmap … actually even a 12-year roadmap. I see this, that, and all these different things we can do, which is really inspiring. And exciting. We are focusing on what players want; I can’t say much more about it.
It has been planned since release for Diablo 4 to stay fresh for several years. However, what exactly is on the roadmap remains a mystery. Not even the next class is known so far, even though the game director recently talked a little about it.
Fergusson himself has recently spoken about finding battle passes “outdated” and planning a new system. There are at least ideas to redesign the individual levels.
Players are skeptical, saying: They would prefer 5 years of good planning
The current roadmap is already causing controversial reactions from the community as it contains, according to some players, too many aspects of content they do not want to see. Accordingly, fans are showing skepticism.
On Reddit, where the interview has been shared, one player even mocks: “That’s a lot of hellish floods in new colors, I have to give him that.” Moreover, they do not want to have to buy so many expansions as that would not be feasible.
Others point out that the “fans” apparently forget that Diablo 3 also had a long run. Since the release of its predecessor in 2012, 11 years have passed until Diablo 4 was released, and the third part had only one major story expansion.
Only the issue with consoles is a problem. In the coming 10 years, we can expect 3-4 new generations, according to a prediction from the discussion (editor’s note: realistically, it’s probably more like 1-2 console generations). The performance of Diablo 4 will then be hard to guarantee, the players fear.
The complaints about Diablo 4 and Blizzard in general have long been a norm in the community. Even though criticism is often acknowledged by Blizzard, fans often continue to complain and predict the downfall of the game. Even the former head of Blizzard addresses this: The ex-head of Blizzard believes Diablo 4 is trapped in a vicious cycle and needs to do everything differently to save it
