Were you expecting something new in Diablo 4 this year? That's a repeat. Since its release in 2023, Diablo 4 has maintained its community of players through regular updates, season passes, and also a DLC. Vessel of Hatred, as it is called, has been available since October 2024 on all platforms. It is an expansion that has been well received by players, but which will not have a sequel – or at least not in the very near future.
Indeed, it seems that the next Diablo 4 expansion DLC is set to arrive in 2026 at the earliest. So we could potentially have to wait at least another year before we get some fresh blood to sink our teeth into. This news comes courtesy of Rod Fergusson, the head of the Diablo franchise, who spoke at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week. He said:
The good news is that players will indeed get a sneak peek at what's in store this year. Good or bad surprises, they will be able to prepare for it and plan their own schedule to match the highlights of the service game. For the moment, no other details concerning the extension have been leaked from Blizzard. We imagine that with such a distant release window, we will not have any news for several more long months.
A more appropriate schedule
In a way, this says a lot about Blizzard's strategy for developing and maintaining the service game. Vessel of Hatred had also missed its release target by about 6 months because the studio wanted to offer players a finished and polished version of their DLC. This is exactly why the idea of releasing one expansion per year was ultimately abandoned.
Blizzard therefore learns from its mistakes, and prefers to take extra time to integrate player feedback rather than engaging in crunch time to complete the development of a game. This is a state of mind that we could recommend to all video game studios for 2025 and the years to come. come.
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