News on the upcomingDiablo 4has been slow and steady ever since its initial announcement at BlizzCon 2019. Every few months or so, usually during Blizzard’s quarterly development updates,Diablo 4will reveal a few more details, like announcing a new character class or showing off new weapons and armor sets. The Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase gave players the chance to see even more of the upcoming action RPG, and it’s fair to say thatDiablo 4seems to be shaping up quite nicely.
The game will feature plenty of elements that fans of the franchise will be familiar with, from its re-playable, procedurally generated dungeons to its loot-focused gameplay.Diablo 4will also be looking to embrace the dark fantasyaesthetics of its predecessors, but it will be adding new aspects like PvP interactions and a vast open-world for players to explore as well. Another slightly newer aspect is Blizzard’s reported commitment to providing years of post-launch content – welcome news to fans who are hoping to dine out onDiablo 4for a good long while.
Diablo 4 Developer’s Comments
twitter.com/RodFergusson/status/1536068892086243328
Blizzard is in a bit of hot water at the moment. In addition to the concerns over the upcomingOverwatch 2, the developer is dealing with a massive amount of controversy over its recently released MMORPGDiablo Immortal. While the game is technically free-to-play,Diablo Immortalcontains some ridiculously exorbitant microtransactionsand an unbalanced progression system that have really angered a large community of fans. Blizzard could use some positive news at the moment, especially where itsDiabloseries is concerned, so it makes sense that the developer has started to focus on whatDiablo 4will be bringing to the table.
Rod Fergusson, a video game producer who is overseeing the development of the game, recently tweeted aboutDiablo 4’s “breadth of content.” While Fergusson assured fans that there will be plenty for them to enjoy at launch, he also mentioned the developer’s intention to deliver content for “years to come,” including “optional cosmetic items & full story driven expansions.“Diablo Immortal’s cash-grab antics haven’t put a lot of players at ease when it comes toDiablo 4’s post-launch content plans, but even if there are some purchasable cosmetics, it seems like the developer has some bigger plans as well. While there aren’t any other official details at the moment about what fans will be able to expect, Fergusson’s tweet has given players a lot to think about.
The Trend Of Long-Term Post-Launch Support
WhenDiablofirst released way back in 1997, games didn’t get periodic patches or updates, and weren’t supported post-launch with rounds of new cosmetic items or game modes. Over the years, expansions packs were obviously released for some older titles, and occasionally these contained updates for the base game, but the video game world used to look and operate very differently when theDiabloseries was first starting out. For the most part, players would expect their games to be finished and complete when they were purchased, and if they weren’t, that’s usually how they stayed. Expansion packs weren’t incredibly common, but they were a great added bonus and usually represented a substantial addition to the base game to justify their purchase.
In recent years, there’s been a surge of online games-as-service which offer players seasonal content that builds upon and sometimes replaces what’s come before. This has proved very popular for battle royale titles likeFortniteandApex Legends, and a lot of games have adopted this model. Even more traditionally single-player campaign titles likeHalohave switched things up, andHalo Infiniteis looking to commit the next ten years to the one game and expand its story through post-launch content instead of an immediate sequel.Diablo 4isn’t necessarily following suit, but Blizzard’s assurances that years of post-launch content are coming are interesting, to say the least.
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What This Could Mean For The Game
There are lots of positives for continuing post-launch support for games. More updates and substantive DLCs will keep a community engaged with a title, even long after it’s been released. With newPvP elements coming toDiablo 4, this can only be a good thing. Lots of gamers also prefer to not play a game in a vacuum, and having an active player base usually translates to more activity on the internet and on forums for them to get involved with. MoreDiablo 4-focused content also means that the story and the world are continuing to expand over the years, hopefully giving players more bang for their buck as time goes on.
Fergusson’s use of the plural when referencing the “story driven expansions” could be key, as to dateDiablogames have only received one story expansion pack. These narrative-focused DLCs usually contained some integral plot points, likeDiablo 3: Reaper of Soulsstoryline that covered Tyrael temporarily recovering the Black Soulstone and the former Archangel of Wisdom Malthael’s rampage through the realms. While another expansion was planned, entitledDiablo 3: The King in the North, it was scrapped before it could be released and some of its content was released in free updates instead.
Despite Blizzard’s concerns that theDiablogames aren’t as profitable as the developers othersubscription models likeWorld of Warcraft, it seems like it has still decided to pour a lot of time and resources into the nextDiablogame, which is definitely a promising sign. Although more time and effort spent onDiablo 4potentially pushes back a future sequel, if Blizzard really works at gettingDiablo 4into the best shape it can be and continues to provide top-rate post-launch content, this feels like an acceptable trade-off.
Players are hoping for a truly substantive offering of story heavy DLC, alongside the cosmetic items and other game tweaks that usually come after a title releases. Sometimes content that was originally created for the base game can just be siphoned off into DLC to make it appear like there’s lots more still to come after a game releases, but hopefully thatisn’t the case withDiablo 4.Fergusson’s comments seem to suggest that there might be some sizable story campaigns for players to look forward to far into the future, and not just sidelined base game content.
Diablo 4will launch in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
