The game will feature plenty of elements that fans of the franchise will be familiar with, from its re-playable, procedurally generated dungeons to its loot-focused gameplay. Diablo 4 will also be looking to embrace the dark fantasy aesthetics of its predecessors, but it will be adding new aspects like PvP interactions and a vast open-world for players to explore as well. Another slightly newer aspect is Blizzard’s reported commitment to providing years of post-launch content – welcome news to fans who are hoping to dine out on Diablo 4 for a good long while.
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Diablo 4 Developer’s Comments
twitter.com/RodFergusson/status/1536068892086243328
Blizzard is in a bit of hot water at the moment. In addition to the concerns over the upcoming Overwatch 2, the developer is dealing with a massive amount of controversy over its recently released MMORPG Diablo Immortal. While the game is technically free-to-play, Diablo Immortal contains some ridiculously exorbitant microtransactions and an unbalanced progression system that have really angered a large community of fans. Blizzard could use some positive news at the moment, especially where its Diablo series is concerned, so it makes sense that the developer has started to focus on what Diablo 4 will be bringing to the table.
Rod Fergusson, a video game producer who is overseeing the development of the game, recently tweeted about Diablo 4’s “breadth of content.” While Fergusson assured fans that there will be plenty for them to enjoy at launch, he also mentioned the developer’s intention to deliver content for “years to come,” including “optional cosmetic items & full story driven expansions.” Diablo Immortal’s cash-grab antics haven’t put a lot of players at ease when it comes to Diablo 4’s post-launch content plans, but even if there are some purchasable cosmetics, it seems like the developer has some bigger plans as well. While there aren’t any other official details at the moment about what fans will be able to expect, Fergusson’s tweet has given players a lot to think about.
The Trend Of Long-Term Post-Launch Support
When Diablo first released way back in 1997, games didn’t get periodic patches or updates, and weren’t supported post-launch with rounds of new cosmetic items or game modes. Over the years, expansions packs were obviously released for some older titles, and occasionally these contained updates for the base game, but the video game world used to look and operate very differently when the Diablo series was first starting out. For the most part, players would expect their games to be finished and complete when they were purchased, and if they weren’t, that’s usually how they stayed. Expansion packs weren’t incredibly common, but they were a great added bonus and usually represented a substantial addition to the base game to justify their purchase.
In recent years, there’s been a surge of online games-as-service which offer players seasonal content that builds upon and sometimes replaces what’s come before. This has proved very popular for battle royale titles like Fortnite and Apex Legends, and a lot of games have adopted this model. Even more traditionally single-player campaign titles like Halo have switched things up, and Halo Infinite is looking to commit the next ten years to the one game and expand its story through post-launch content instead of an immediate sequel. Diablo 4 isn’t necessarily following suit, but Blizzard’s assurances that years of post-launch content are coming are interesting, to say the least.
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What This Could Mean For The Game
There are lots of positives for continuing post-launch support for games. More updates and substantive DLCs will keep a community engaged with a title, even long after it’s been released. With new PvP elements coming to Diablo 4, this can only be a good thing. Lots of gamers also prefer to not play a game in a vacuum, and having an active player base usually translates to more activity on the internet and on forums for them to get involved with. More Diablo 4-focused content also means that the story and the world are continuing to expand over the years, hopefully giving players more bang for their buck as time goes on.
Fergusson’s use of the plural when referencing the “story driven expansions” could be key, as to date Diablo games have only received one story expansion pack. These narrative-focused DLCs usually contained some integral plot points, like Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls storyline that covered Tyrael temporarily recovering the Black Soulstone and the former Archangel of Wisdom Malthael’s rampage through the realms. While another expansion was planned, entitled Diablo 3: The King in the North, it was scrapped before it could be released and some of its content was released in free updates instead.
Despite Blizzard’s concerns that the Diablo games aren’t as profitable as the developers other subscription models like World of Warcraft, it seems like it has still decided to pour a lot of time and resources into the next Diablo game, which is definitely a promising sign. Although more time and effort spent on Diablo 4 potentially pushes back a future sequel, if Blizzard really works at getting Diablo 4 into the best shape it can be and continues to provide top-rate post-launch content, this feels like an acceptable trade-off.
Players are hoping for a truly substantive offering of story heavy DLC, alongside the cosmetic items and other game tweaks that usually come after a title releases. Sometimes content that was originally created for the base game can just be siphoned off into DLC to make it appear like there’s lots more still to come after a game releases, but hopefully that isn’t the case with Diablo 4. Fergusson’s comments seem to suggest that there might be some sizable story campaigns for players to look forward to far into the future, and not just sidelined base game content.
Diablo 4 will launch in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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