Image: Blizzard
Days after the first impressions of Diablo IV hit the internet, Activision Blizzard has announced the game will release on June 6th. The game also got a brand new trailer premiering during tonight’s Game Awards broadcast featuring a brief performance by Halsey. Unfortunately, because of all the blood and demons, you’re only going to be able to watch the trailer directly on YouTube.
The June 6th date was leaked prior to tonight’s announcement in a report by The Washington Post that also covered Blizzard employees’ concerns that they would have to crunch in order to meet that deadline. Diablo IV, along with Overwatch 2, was one of the most anticipated games in Blizzard’s pipeline. And like Overwatch 2, its release was delayed in part by employee attrition as developers left or were let go from the company amidst lawsuits alleging discrimination and sexual harassment.
Earlier this year, Diablo Immortal, a version of Diablo made for mobile, launched to negative reviews citing the game’s inescapable microtransactions. Seemingly in order to head off concerns about Diablo IV, shortly after Immortal’s launch, Blizzard released a statement reassuring fans D4’s microtransactions won’t resemble those in Immortal.
We’ll see how much that holds true when Diablo IV launches on June 6th.