Blizzard Is Working On Two Expansions for Diablo IV
/
Blizzard’s action RPG Diablo IV is officially out in the world and while everything seems to be going well for the Diablo team, it looks like this is just the beginning as they are already working on not one, but two expansions for the game alongside the planned seasonal content.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Diablo general manager, Rod Fergusson, confirmed that the core team in the studio is working on two expansions for Diablo IV. This is besides the planned seasonal content as they are treating this action RPG as a live service.
"We're about to launch the main game, we're finishing up Season One, we're working on Season Two, we're working on Expansion One, we're kicking off Expansion Two - all that is happening right now." says Rod in the interview.
The developers have talked about expansion before but never was it publicly mentioned that two expansions are currently planned for the game. It’s unlikely we’ll hear more about these expansions in detail in the near future but at least seasonal content is coming as the first season is set to launch sometime in July 2023 and is expected to last for roughly three months.
Again, they state that monetization and other content through the battle pass will be cosmetics only. At the moment, you can’t purchase to get an advantage.
It’s an insightful interview as Rod even talked about various behind-the-scenes as he mentioned a Rune Words system similar to Diablo 2 was in the works at one time but didn’t make it to the full game.
How the open world works in Diablo IV
He also brought insight as to how Diablo IV’s online open world would work. They built the game where you can stumble upon players as you explore Sanctuary, but there’s a limitation as every time a player enters a particular part of the overall map, it’s treated like pocket servers, and these servers have limitations on how many players can be together at one time in that area. This means you won’t see 30 people rushing the world boss or crowding a town area. These limitations preserve the game’s immersion, and ‘s working pretty well so far based on my experience.
Diablo IV is now live and available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
Stellar Blade’s potential was clear, but as its ambitions expanded into something greater, it lost focus. As soon as Stellar Blade tries to bring everything together, it merges into a single figure that looks deformed and uneven. The quality is unquestionable but it wasn’t the final product I was slowly building in my head as I went through the game’s first half.