Blizzard officially announced Diablo 4 during the BlizzCon 2019 opening ceremony, saying the new game will bring the series back to its darker roots with plenty of blood and gore. This direction reverts to pre-Diablo 3 aesthetics, which some fans did not enjoy. Diablo 4′s dark tone, then, is sure to have many series veterans hotly anticipating its release. This begs the question: What is the Diablo 4 release date, and what platforms is it coming to? We’ll cover everything we know so far below.
What is the Diablo 4 release date?
Blizzard revealed plenty of information about Diablo 4 at BlizzCon 2019, including a Diablo 4 cinematic trailer that revealed the game’s protagonist as Lilith and a Diablo 4 gameplay trailer that revealed three of the game’s classes: the Barbarian, the Sorceress, and the Druid. Onstage, Blizzard announced Diablo 4 will include PvP zones and emphasized the game’s focus on combining the best parts of the past three Diablo games.
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Unfortunately, all of that info included nothing specific about the Diablo 4 release date. Blizzard did, however, give one detail about the game that provides us with an idea of when it could be coming out. Diablo 4 Game Director Luis Barriga specified before the gameplay trailer that the game is “developed for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.”
Since Sony has already officially confirmed the PS5’s holiday 2020 launch window and Microsoft announced Project Scarlett is also launching in holiday 2020, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why Blizzard would need to avoid saying Diablo 4 is coming to next-gen consoles if it was releasing after those consoles launch. Based on this, it’s somewhat safe to say Diablo 4 could be released before those consoles, putting its potential release sometime in early-to-mid 2020. However, Blizzard is known for putting out games when it pleases, so it may be coming some time after 2020. It’s hard to say because Blizzard probably doesn’t know either.
Before Diablo 4′s official announcement, leaks said it would be “dark, gritty, and gross,” and its initial trailers certainly seem to confirm this. The cinematic trailer, for instance, shows three adventurers’ blood sprouting from them to form a portal — and, subsequently, a really nasty cape — for Lilith.