It’s looking pretty certain now that at least one of those “multiple Diablo projects” mentioned by developer Blizzard last year is on the way. Following recent reports that devs were being moved off a Starcraft FPS to work on Diablo 4, the studio has now put up two new job adverts for a Diablo title – a lead character artist and a lead concept artist. Excitingly, it also seems that the game already exists, at least in part – Diablo 4 has been shown to Blizzard employees.
The job adverts state that the studio is working on a “new, unannounced Diablo project”, emphasising that knowledge of the series universe is key. Given that these roles would probably be important in a title’s development from the get-go the adverts could suggest that the project is not very far along yet. However, it would seem from another source that this isn’t the case.
According to French publication Le Monde (via user Damien at forum IcyVeins, as the full article is subscriber-only), employees at Blizzard in Paris have been shown Diablo 4 in a presentation. The article says (translated via Google) “the Blizzard Entertainment teams have already had the right to a presentation of the highly anticipated Diablo 4 and know that a new Overwatch is in the pipes. But none will come out before 2020, at best”.
It seems then that Blizzard’s next big Diablo title is already in some kind of a ready enough state to have been shown to employees, even if this is just a vertical slice of what’s to come. Whether the two job adverts link to this same Diablo 4 or another unannounced project is not confirmed. It’s certainly possible that the lead character and concept artists could be brought on further into the title’s development, so all signs seem to point to Diablo 4 being well underway. Hopefully we’ll get to see a reveal of Diablo 4 at this year’s BlizzCon.
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Whatever the end result will be, and whether we’ll get to see a Diablo 4 showcased later this year, we’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully whatever might arrive will receive a better reception from the series’ fans than mobile spin-off Diablo Immortal did when revealed at the last BlizzCon.