Report: Diablo 4 could be launching in April 2023, with preorders going live
What you need to know
- Diablo 4 is the next installment in the legendary action RPG series from Blizzard.
- A rumor over the summer suggested that Diablo 4 may be getting revealed at The Game Awards in December, and we now have some tentative corroboration.
- Reported on the XboxEra podcast and corroborated by our own sources, it seems Diablo 4 could be targeting an April 2023 launch window.
- The game should go live for preorder during The Game Awards 2022 if the rumors are correct, alongside various digital editions and a premium collector’s edition with some rather fiery goodies.
Diablo 4 (also known as Diablo IV) is already officially slated for 2023, but now we may have narrowed it down to a specific month.
Diablo 4 is the latest installment in Blizzard’s legendary action RPG franchise. Set in the gothic world of Sanctuary, players are caught in the crossfire between the forces of heaven and hell, whose eternal war threatens the world of the living. Diablo 4 promises to return to the franchise’s hardcore, dark roots, taking on feedback from Diablo 3’s oft-criticized “cartoony” appearance. Diablo 4 looks bloody as hell, (and bloody awesome too), and it could be launching a little sooner than perhaps some had expected.
As discussed on today’s XboxEra podcast, the team there revealed the possibility of Diablo 4 launching in April 2023. We can also tentatively corroborate the April 2023 launch window via our own proven sources, alongside some other details.
Rumors appearing over the summer revealed that Diablo 4 would be announced at The Game Awards, originally leaking via the /r/classicwow subreddit. We have seen additional evidence that appears to confirm this rumor, alongside various beta windows.
According to XboxEra and our sources, Blizzard is planning a sizeable marketing blitz for Diablo 4, starting at The Game Awards 2022 where the game’s April launch window should be revealed. Additionally, preorders should open too during the show, including various digital editions and a premium physical collector’s edition with various goodies for hardcore fans. If our information is correct, one of the preorder benefits will be access to Diablo 4’s open beta in February 2023.
Although there was likely little doubt about this, we can confirm that Blizzard is planning a season-based live service for Diablo 4, supported by microtransactions (MTX) as the company has previously discussed on its official blog. According to our information, Season 1 is tentatively scheduled for Q3, despite the game launching in April.
Microsoft is currently working to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion dollars. Microsoft has previously commented that it aims to close the deal by the summer of 2023, meaning that there’s a non-trivial chance that Diablo 4 could hit Xbox Game Pass by the time Diablo 4’s first season launches towards the end of the summer. Diablo 4 could be a silver bullet for Xbox Cloud Gaming and PC Game Pass growth — given the game’s phone-friendly fixed camera isometric perspective, and Diablo’s PC legacy.
Blizzard has been on an upward trend lately, after a tumultuous few years. Overwatch 2 is on the up and up, and World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is slated to launch in the next couple of weeks. Diablo Immortal has been generating crazy revenue too, despite criticisms of its monetization. As I teased over the summer, Hearthstone also just announced its next expansion, which includes a new Death Knight class.
As always, plans can shift and change, so you should always take rumors like this with a pinch of salt. But we’re pretty confident about this one. You should definitely keep an eye on this year’s Game Awards 2022 show to find out if it’s all true on December 8.
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