Blizzard, the company that has been known to release world wide game hits such as StarCraft and World of Warcraft, has hinted that there is a project in the works that is neither StarCraft, nor World of Warcraft based. Could that mean... Diablo?! If any breaking news were to release, the dedicated www.diablofans.com community site would be where it would show up first.
Here are a few hints that have been dropped so far about the coming of D3...
- Job openings listed in the last three years specifically for the "Diablo Team."
- In 2005, GamesIndustry.biz wrote a story on Blizzard North's move
to the Irvine office, where they would "continue working on an
unannounced project, widely believed to be a new game in the hugely
popular Diablo franchise."
- In October 2006, the article author interviewed Diablo: The Sin War author Richard A. Knaak, who claimed, "I ain’t writing for a dead game."
- The Diablo II splash page the week before the Worldwide Invitational had Deckard Cain saying, “Stay awhile and listen!”
- PC Action: Unfortunately we are not allowed to talk about any details at the moment concerning this game -Lukasz Ciszewski (June 5, 2008)
Not too much evidence, but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Most of my childhood was dedicated to chopping up demons with a big ass ax and skeeting out fireballs at midget rat-imps (or whatever the hell those things were in Kurast). It would be nice to be able to revisit the world of Sanctuary without having my eyes rot out of my head with the 800 x 600 res of Diablo 2.
My guess? If they want to keep the Diablo fanbase alive for much longer, they will have to make an announcement that D3 is in the works by 2009... and then the real waiting game will begin. I will be delightfully surprised if they finally change their laggy release habit and kick out this title in less than 2 years after they announce it.