Blizzard’s Diablo 5 has already stoked some flames in the days since its announcement with some feeling like the game is taking the remnants of unfinished Diablo 4 expansions and turning them into a new game, but Blizzard is keen to state that this isn’t the case.
Not releasing until 2029, Diablo 5 is currently years away from release, although it’s still coming sooner than the studio’s live-service-avoiding Starcraft shooter. While some have been led to believe that this means the ARPG is still in early development, it’s actually be in the works for quite some time with new information showing the game entered pre-production directly after the release of Diablo 4.
Following the game’s announcement at BlizzCon, Diablo 5 game director Joe Shely explained that the game has been in the works for some time in an interview with IGN. Considering prior comments from Blizzard regarding plans to speed up the release of new Diablo games, the title has spent multiple years in pre-production already.
“We’ve been in development for some time on Diablo 5,” Shely said. “We’re in full production and it’s been really an exciting time for us to be able to share it with players.”
Following the announcement, a number of Blizzard employees updated their LinkedIn profiles to reveal that they have been working on the upcoming ARPG. Lead Game Producer Esther Liao, who also worked on Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo 4, revealed that they started working on the game in September 2023, mere months after the launch of Diablo 4 in June 2023.
With that in mind, Diablo 5 has already been in early development for at least three years, although it’s not known when full production started on the game. With the game still three years away, the upcoming ARPG will spent just under six years in development as the game is scheduled to launch in early 2029.
While Diablo 5’s reveal has been a shock for some, especially as Diablo 4 still sits with wasted potential, Shely explained that the fourth game is still going to be supported with new content, even as expansions are now over for the game.
“Diablo 4 has bright support,” they claimed in the aforementioned IGN interview. “It’s fully supported by the team. We were just announcing earlier today, coming to Diablo 4, the Amazon, the Season of Hell’s legacy, Diablo 4 is coming to Switch 2, and there will continue to be ongoing support for Diablo 4. There’s many reasons for players to keep playing.”
While the announcement is still surprising, especially as we’re used to waiting a decade for a new game, it’s not the rush job some have claimed it to be. By the time it releases, Diablo 5 will have spent a considerable amount of time in development and, if it learns the right lessons from D4, could be the best game in the series since Diablo 2.
