Blizzard explains that its current momentum will help smoothen the transition between Diablo IV and Diablo V, helping accelerate development timelines in a franchise that typically sees many years between releases.
The devs at Blizzard surprised everyone at Blizzcon by not only announcing Diablo V, but confirming it for a Spring 2029 launch. A fully-fledged, numbered sequel in the Diablo franchise usually takes longer to make, but Blizzard tells YouTuber Destin Legarie that the confidence behind the 2029 launch comes from the team's prior experience with Diablo IV and the engine itself.
Popular Now: RTX 5090 stock dries up as prices soar past $10,000"I feel like we have a lot of momentum as a team right now, coming off of Diablo IV," executive producer Matt Zitterman said in the interview.
"We're building on the same engine, we have a lot of opportunity to improve on the technology.
"And because we're building with a team that has such experience with the tools and the tech, and with building Diablo, it just feels like we've hit the ground running.
"We're excited to be able to deliver a Diablo V in 2029 that will really excite Diablo players."
Diablo fans have had to wait long periods of time for new mainline games.
There were 12 years between Diablo II's release in June 2000 and Diablo III's launch in May 2012. The latter went on to get re-released onto consoles, serving as the entry point to the franchise on living room platforms.
Diablo IV took 11 years to make, releasing in 2023. If Blizzard meets the Spring 2029 schedule, Diablo V will be out just 6 years after Diablo IV went on sale.
It's unclear whether or not Xbox's planned layoffs will affect development of Diablo V. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft still has another 1,250 layoffs to conduct across Xbox, which includes Activision Blizzard King, the parent of the Diablo dev teams.
It's believed that Diablo is among the core franchises that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has emphasized, so it's possible that Diablo V won't see interruptions that would lead to delays.
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Diablo V is due out sometime in Spring 2029.
