A Diablo 2 remake is reportedly in development at Blizzard, from the makers of last year’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2. According to sources familiar with the plans for the RPG game, Vicarious Visions has been working on the remake since sometime last year.
The news comes from a Bloomberg report on Vicarious Visions being folded into Blizzard’s internal development studio. Activision made the announcement on Friday, stating that Vicarious would be helping “on existing Blizzard games and initiatives”. That existing initiative is, according to Bloomberg, the Diablo 2 remake that’s been rumoured for some amount of time.
The Bloomberg piece states that the Diablo 2 remake was previously being handled by Blizzard’s Team 1, the team behind major releases such as StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft: Remastered, and Warcraft 3: Reforged. Unfortunately, according to the report, the poor reception to the latter led to the group being switched out from Diablo 2 in favour of the Diablo 4 team, who were then tagged out for Vicarious Visions. Developers on Warcraft 3: Reforged told Bloomberg that in October last year, Team 1 was disbanded, some taking on other roles within the company, others leaving altogether.
Vicarious Visions had been tied to the Diablo 2 remake, which Bloomberg believes is currently titled Diablo 2: Resurrection, in rumours from last year. Given the studio’s track record – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in addition to Tony Hawk, and providing support to Bungie for Destiny 2 – it stands to reason why it’d be chosen for Diablo 2.
Blizzard said today that it’s absorbing Vicarious Visions. What it didn’t say:
– VV has been working on a Diablo II remake
– Team 1, Blizzard’s “classic team,” was quietly dismantled last fallNew from me, including some insight on WC3 Reforged: https://t.co/VGczypoBPi
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 22, 2021
We don’t yet have any release information on the eponymous Diablo 2: Resurrection, but here’s a Diablo 2 mod that substantially reworks the game. While we have you, here’s everything we know about Diablo 4, too.