Everything seemed to go wrong for Blizzard following their announcement of Diablo Immortal during BlizzCon 2018. Where most fans had expected a full sequel for the series, the mobile title left many with a bitter taste in their mouth, which soon turned to anger towards Blizzard for apparently losing touch with its fanbase. Though that might be about to change after Blizzard began a new hiring campaign that’s led to reports of Diablo 4 possibly being back on the table.
To be fair, Blizzard never confirmed that Diablo 4 wasn’t going to happen, and according to Game Rant, the developer has made it clear that several Diablo games are in the works. One of them possibly being a full-blown sequel after a string of new job openings were spotted on Blizzard’s Careers page. Take a look at the various roles for the Diablo series and you’ll see that the company is looking for everything from artists to designers. There still hasn’t been any official announcement from Blizzard concerning Diablo 4, though a return to the series may be exactly what the developer needs to win back fans and inject a little stability into Blizzard.
After breaking records for the majority of 2018, which saw Overwatch hit new heights and the new Battle for Azeroth expansion for World of Warcraft giving the series yet another lease of life, the recent shockwaves running through Blizzard seem to have popped out of thin air. Before BlizzCon, Michael Morhaime brought an end to his 27 years as Blizzard’s CEO, with World of Warcraft executive J. Allen Brack taking over.
Since Morhaime has stayed on in an advisory capacity to Brack though recently announced he would be leaving the company entirely, with reports suggesting he’ll be gone by April. Blizzard has also lost its chief financial officers in Amrita Ahuja, who was poached by a payment solutions firm. And there’s been added financial pressure after both Blizzard and its partnership with Activision saw a fairly hefty drop in its share price.
With all that going on, a full return to a beloved series with Diablo 4 seems like an easy solution for Blizzard, one that would surely see its fanbase calm down and have an equally calming effect on the business side of things. Though, it’s important to remember that Blizzard is yet to confirm a sequel, meaning these job openings could very well be roles for spin-off titles for the series.
