Another pull from the Activision Blizzard rumour mill this morning: it seems Blizzard could be preparing Diablo 4 for launch in April 2023.
Or at least, that’s the story from both the Xbox Era podcast and Windows Central (and spotted by Eurogamer), both of which seem to agree that Diablo 4‘s (currently tentative) 2023 release window is a Q2 affair. Further, both have reporting that suggests early access could kick off in February, and preorders as early as December.
The current thinking is that, if Blizzard has anything to announce, it will come during The Game Awards, which are set for December 8 (which will be Dec 9, here in Australia). That would certainly make sense — since stories about its workplace culture became public scandals, Blizzard no longer has an end-of-year IRL BlizzCon event it can use to announce major release dates. The Game Awards would, therefore, make a convenient stand-in.
The most recent Diablo 4 closed beta involved endgame content. Some of that material has found its way online, with a major leak of footage arriving in the wake of the recent Grand Theft Auto VI leaks.
Another recent story: a group of Diablo 4 testers working for Blizzard in Albany have also recently won the right to unionise. The group’s petition to the US National Labor Relations Board was accepted in October. Employees can now vote to formalise the union, and have their ballots in hand. A result is expected on or after November 18th.
What does that have to do with a Diablo 4 release date announcement? Nothing directly, but if Blizzard does hope to get the game out by April, those testers will be expected to get the lead out to help it ship on time. Under those conditions, I certainly hope they vote to give themselves appropriate representation.
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