2 years max? Are you new to game development? Blizzard soon = 2 years. They stated it was not a Blizzard soon.
Also, Diablo 3 got rebooted, so the previous time on the game does not count. Design changes, so a lot of things needs to be redone. Diablo 3 was in development for 11 years dude. It started in 2001, got rebooted a few times. They announced it in 2008 and released in 2012.
What makes you think it will be different? People saying 2021/2022 are delusional
Tell me a single game that released longer than 2 years since Diablo 3. You can't, because there isn't one that did.
Overwatch took 1.5 years from announcement to release and that was WITH an extended beta that lasted a long time. Worst case scenario is 2.5-3 years for Diablo 4.
That's not the point though. Ubisoft pumps out bigger games every year with the assassin's creed series. Diablo 3 was a joke of a game, if they took 4 years it's because they weren't putting a lot of work into it. The only good things to come out of diablo 3 were the cinematics.
Keep in mind that Ubisoft has massive development teams. If you take the Assassin's Creed games for example, it took them 3 years of development for AC Origins and AC Odyssey with a team of 500+ developers and even older AC titles took them 2 years of development. Blizzards teams are a lot smaller. Their biggest team is the WoW team with around 200+ developers and we know from the Blizzcon interviews that the kotaku report from last Blizzcon is true so D4 development started in 2017 (2 different version were scrapped). With a smaller team you're looking at a development cycle of 4-6 years and Blizzard soon is at least 2 years and they said it will take longer. So 2021 would be the earliest with a 4 year development cycle.
Comparing how long it took diablo3 to release and diablo4 probably doesnt work. It may have been even said in this thread earlier, but I heard that d3 bounced around in developement for some extra time and took far longer than expected.
Hoping d4 earlier than later.
Also, as I think I said earlier, d4 was, at least according to rumors, be announced at blizzcon year earlier along with diablo immortal. The playable demo cant be everything they have managed over a year? Or perhaps it is just a rumor and not real...
edit: Also yes, i didnt read in detail any of the posts just above. Just small parts. I think they are saying pretty much what I just posted.
OW had a special development cycle. The dev themselves said that they had only less than 1.5 years to release something after the failure of Titan. So this one is a miracle in a way.
As for other games since D3, Blizzard did not release any new games in a long time. I do not calculate WoW expansion as "new" games as it's a very different cycle + development process.
So believe if you want that 2.5 years is what we will take. I am willing to take a friendly bet with you (if we both remember it in 3 years ) that it will take 3 years to 4 years. If I am wrong, well that's great for us!
Interesting, Diablo 4 Lilith statue will be released on 30/8/2020. I wonder if that's a hint?
https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/st...-game%2Cdiablo
It's a bit early, but there's maybe beta coming out around that date.
We saw Diablo 3 four times at Blizzcon before it launched (with demo and playable characters), and Blizzard has been very aggressive about trying to temper expectations about Diablo 4's release date so I am going to guess 2022. I will be very excited if I am wrong and it is sooner.
Be realistic. The release will be for financial purposes. Classic has proved to be a huge finical success. Shadowlands is on the horizon so they have a year to give and take. They have a demo for D4 so, depending on the reaction of Shadowlands and the extra content for Classic, it can be anywhere between 1-3 years, for sure. Don't hold your hopes for a quick game though
Guessing somewhere in the middle of WoW expansions. If it’s ready, late 2021 - early 2022. If not, delayed to 2023.
Judging by the not even blizzard soon comment they said I'm guessing we have to wait 2 years minimum so by 2022 the soonest.
I'm hoping for winter 2021 then again I don't want them to rush this game either.
- - - Updated - - -
Don't think they said how long this have been in the works either perhaps they have been working a years or two on this already. The demo looked smooth then again it's a demo.
Do you hear the voices too?
That's a backwards logic isn't it? Why would u want to release a game at the same time as another of the same genre all you're going to do there is split your sales.
Better to release like a year later when the PoE hype has worn down and people are itching for a new ARPG experience.
Blizzard need a hit as I predict ow2 won't sell to expectations (it's a glorified expansion nobody really wants). Activision will push this out the door. I predict beta after blizzcon 2020 for virtual ticket holders as they'll need a way to sell with no big reveal. Release summer 2021 not later.
Don't think so. Excluding the fact OW "PvE mode" is soemthing requested by players from the very start, i agree that it's more an expansion than a full fledged new game and imho they should have sold it like that, so one can buy either one module or both and play the game as they please. This kind of rebranding is just confusing to me.
As for D4, i don't think we'll see anything before 2022. They went all out in tampering hype and expectations. 2021 is way too soon, given they have to design 2 classes and basically fill up an entire world. System wise, the game looks basically on point already and i think we won't see extreme changes in the future.
Non ti fidar di me se il cuor ti manca.
Yea I think it will be late 2021 or early 2022, gives them enough time to finish some stuff. If they really want to listen to player feedback during the beta they might make some more bigger changes during or after the beta, that might push the release date further away, so could even be late 2022. But we are all guessing here.
Late 2020.
11/4/23 Updated power level -> Sargeras > Xal'atath > Void Empowered Azshara > Alleria > Galakrond > Iridikron > N'zoth > Jailor > Argus > Death Empowered Sylvanas > Lich King Arthas > Kil'jaeden > Archimonde > Illidan > Deathwing