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When Blizzard’s sole Diablo announcement at this year’s BlizzCon turned out to be a game for phones, it set off a firestorm of angry reactions from fans who had hoped for a new Diablo on PC. But what about Diablo 4?
UPDATE: This article originally stated that Blizzard had recorded a video, planned for BlizzCon, in which co-founder Allen Adham talked about a new Diablo game. Although we can confirm that the video was made, Blizzard disputes that it was planned for BlizzCon.
“First off we want to mention that we definitely hear our community. We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but we can say that we didn’t pull any announcements from BlizzCon this year or have plans for other announcements. We do continue to have different teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects, and we look forward to announcing when the time is right.”
However, two people familiar with Blizzard’s plans confirmed that the company had indeed recorded a video in which co-founder Allen Adham spoke to fans about a new Diablo project. What’s in dispute here is the timing. We had originally reported that it was planned for BlizzCon, but it’s possible that those plans were simply discussed and never solidified. (Either way, the video never came out.)
We can confirm that Diablo 4 is indeed in development. One of those sources told me that the Diablo team wasn’t yet ready to commit to an announcement, as Diablo 4 has changed drastically over the past four years and may continue to change further. (We’ve heard it’s gone through at least two different iterations under different directors.)
We apologise for any misinformation and have updated this story accordingly.
At last Friday’s keynote, Blizzard revealed Diablo Immortal to a quiet, uncomfortable crowd and then ended the show. For most of the weekend, Diablo fans raged online as a result, expressing their anger on YouTube and various forums. There were a few reasons for the controversy, but the driving factor was that the company’s sole Diablo announcement was a game that appeared to be made for a very different audience than hardcore Diablo fans.
On October 17, two weeks before BlizzCon, Blizzard put out a blog post that essentially told fans Diablo 4 was in the works but would not be at the show. “These are very exciting times—we currently have multiple teams working on different Diablo projects and we can’t wait to tell you all about them . . . when the time is right,” the company said. “We know what many of you are hoping for and we can only say that ‘good things come to those who wait,’ but evil things often take longer.”
Activision Blizzard looks to esports, mobile, free-to-play during company transition
Call of Duty's city-based league sells first five franchise teams; company staffs up for numerous mobile initiatives
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During Activision Blizzard's Q1 2019 financial results call with investors, CEO Bobby Kotick and president and COO Coddy Johnson gave a rough outline of the company's progress on its plan to adjust its focus moving forward following a year of record sales and the lay-off of approximately 800 employees.
The company's plan as announced in February was for 2019 to be a "transition year" for the company with fewer major releases (and no major frontline releases from the Blizzard segment, which is already bearing the brunt of year-over-year revenue decreases in Q1). During today's call, the executives reiterated that the company would be looking to beef up its "proven franchises," while also adding that a stronger focus on esports, mobile, and free-to-play titles was in the cards as it staffed up its development teams.
For esports, Kotick revealed that Activision has sold the first five city franchise teams for its coming Call of Duty League, all five to cities that already host Overwatch League teams. The cities and owners are as follows:
Atlanta - Atlanta Esports Ventures
Dallas - Team Envy
New York - Sterling.VC
Paris - cOntact Gaming
Toronto - OverActive Media
Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin did note that the company does not expect to realize any material revenue from esports team sales in 2019.
Durkin said the same about new mobile initiatives, though Activision Blizzard does seem to be investing heavily in them as a part of its repositioning plan both in terms of investment and personnel. In addition to the company's previously announced plan to increase developer headcount on major franchises such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, and Overwatch by 20% in 2019, it is also staffing up for mobile initiatives and looking closely at free-to-play models both for mobile and other platforms.
Johnson said Activision Blizzard is increasingly looking at mobile titles in a number of ways, from extensions of its console games to full, standalone mobile games to cross-platform titles to mobile-first reimaginings. One of those mobile games that has already been revealed, Call of Duty Mobile, will be coming to open beta in North America, South America, and Europe later this year. The game will be revealed by the end of Q2 in June.