An article on the Washington Post, not related to the Diablo 4 release date directly, happens to slip in a June 6 release date.
Diablo 4 Release Date
The article in question takes a look at the stress the Diablo 4 team has been under as they aim for a June 6 release date. Specifically tackling the issue of game development crunch, the article discusses the stress the team has been under during Diablo 4’s development.
The best-selling Diablo series has not seen a new mainline installment since 2012, and fans have been eagerly anticipating the latest. Developers, in turn, have been afraid of disappointing gamers, and in interviews, they described a beleaguered process of trying to meet a release date that feels unlikely without many hours of overtime or cut features. The release date has already shifted multiple times, they said.
Blizzard Response
Development crunch is never good for morale among employees. Blizzard’s Andrew Reyolds responded to the post with:
“As you may know, game development in general, and ‘Diablo IV’ specifically, follows an iterative process where the scope evolves over time. Production on the game is going extremely well. Overtime is voluntary and limited to specific teams. We regularly survey the team on their professional well-being, and the latest results are the most positive they’ve been in years.”
The article also looks at some of the senior personnel changes early in development and how it has affected the progress prior to Rod Fergusson taking control.
The article cites numerous anonymous employee sources who discuss some of the problems the development team has faced.
If the article and sources are accurate, it paints a picture of a stressed workforce and unrealistic initial release dates being for the project with dates having shifted multiple times.