'Diablo 4' Announcement Reportedly Pulled by Blizzard Before BlizzCon

Blizzard reportedly scrapped plans to tease Diablo 4 during BlizzCon 2018, according to a report from Kotaku.

Kotaku said that two people familiar with the situation spoke to the site and said that Blizzard's original plan during BlizzCon 2018 was to announce Diablo Immortal, the mobile Diablo game that's faced controversy since it was announced, before ending with a Diablo 4 teaser. Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham was set to appear in a video where he'd tell the audience that Diablo 4 was in development but wasn't ready to be shown off yet, according to Kotaku's sources. Instead, the show concluded with the announcement of Diablo Immortal, a mobile-only game with Blizzard having no plans to bring it to the PC platform.

The sources who spoke to Kotaku said Blizzard's BlizzCon plans were altered in the weeks leading up to the event with at least one source telling the site that the team wasn't ready to commit to an announcement. They said that Diablo 4 has changed "drastically" over four years of development with more changes still possible before it's released.

Blizzard's Diablo Immortal announcement left the BlizzCon opening ceremony ending on a low note, according to many people online who were critical of the mobile game. The BlizzCon schedule alluded to Diablo news being present at the event, and despite attempts from Blizzard to temper people's expectations for Diablo-related news, event attendees and those who watched from home were still expecting something about Diablo 4 to be announced.

Neither that announcement nor a teaser for the next main Diablo game were seen or heard during BlizzCon, an absence resulting in backlash from community members who felt like they'd been misled. Blizzard said it had expected some backlash following the announcement but said it didn't expect the level of backlash it received. Discussions about the Diablo Immortal announcement and the lack of Diablo 4 rages throughout the weekend with Blizzard fans and even the producer of Diablo 2 joining in on the conversation, the producer saying that it seemed like Blizzard no longer understood gamers.

Ending the BlizzCon ceremony in the way that Blizzard reportedly planned would've been similar to how Bethesda proceeded with their E3 conference, a show that was referenced following the Diablo Immortal announcement. Bethesda revealed a mobile game and later confirmed that The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield are in the works to give its fans two major games to look forward to.

Kotaku said that it reached out to Blizzard for comment on the report, but no comment was provided before publishing.