Blizzard
The Diablo 4 release date has been leaked, and it’s very soon
According to several sources, Blizzard’s next big game is launching much sooner than we believed, and is planned for a reveal during The Game Awards 2022.
Windows Central and Xbox Era strike again. Both websites have revealed that Diablo 4 is much closer than we believed. According to them the game will launch worldwide in April 2023, barely six months from now.
According to these sources, the seminal Blizzard saga is going to be one of the big protagonists of the coming The Game Awards show, which is slated to take place on December 8, 2022. This way, they’re planning to present the release date through a new trailer set to be presented by Geoff Keighley’s event.
These leaks are even willing to double down on the fact that the game’s pre-orders will begin that very same day, with several collectors editions available for pre-purchase. Even more intriguing, they also stated that one of the pre-order bonuses would be access to a new beta of the game, to take place in February 2023. The only Diablo 4 gameplay we’ve seen so far comes from the various betas that have taken place in the past few years, but all things considered Blizzard has been a little stingy about showing off too much of the game.
Diablo 4 and the horror of monetization
Even when we really like Diablo Immortal’s gameplay, the mobile entry of the series released a few months ago comes with a monetization model that still makes us shake in our boots to this day. When the math was done, we discovered that it could cost you upwards of $100,000 USD to max out a single character with endgame equipment, causing the wrath of the community. The game quickly broke records as the worst reviewed title in the history of Metacritic.
From the 81 average it had received from critics, the game went down to an abysmal 0.8 average from user reviews, with mediums such as Kotaku declaring that “it’s very enjoyable… if you ignore all of the mobile game shit”. After this experience, the question is clear: Has Blizzard learned their lesson or will Diablo 4 follow in the same footsteps?
As of now the company has stated that they’re “different cases”, since Immortal is free to play and Diablo 4 is having a full price release. “The game is big and there’ll be a lot of content after launch”, said Adam Fletcher, the franchise’s community manager a few weeks ago. “The paid content will be built around optional cosmetic items and, eventually, full expansions”. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for this being true, and for April being the game's release date. Even more considering the game will be available on Xbox Game Pass.