I've been seeing articles like this one, from GameNGuide, popping up every few days for a few weeks now:
‘Diablo 4’ Release Date, News & Update: Major Announcement at BlizzCon 2016; New Game Or Expansion Coming?
BlizzCon is set to happen on Nov. 4 and 5, 2016 in Anaheim, California, and fans are already excited for big news. Blizzard Entertainment previously shared that they have a huge announcement to make, which many believe involves "Diablo 4," among others.
iTechPost reported that "Diablo 4" fans were dismayed when Blizzard did not have any fresh details about the franchise at Gamescom in August 2016. Many thought that the game company may have saved big news and updates for their own major event - BlizzCon 2016. The "Diablo" official Twitter account stated that they have something great to reveal in 2016.
Some "Diablo" fans speculated that Blizzard may be preparing an enhanced version of "Diablo II" or "StarCraft." There are rumors that Blizzard might remake either of the two hit titles to suit current platforms. Others opined that the game creator might feature a prequel, sequel reboot or expansion for "Diablo III." Others shared that there might be a mobile "Diablo" game. The rest are hoping that the company will introduce "Diablo IV" soon.
In another iTechPost report, there has yet to be a suitable replacement for "Diablo" game director Josh Mosquiera. Blizzard is reportedly looking for more staff members to work on the "Diablo 4." There are talks that senior designer Wyatt Chang might replace George Musketeer as game director, although he will continue some of the work already commenced. Even if "Diablo 4" is already in the works, it will take a while to complete, so an announcement about a "Diablo II" remake or "Diablo 3" expansion seems more likely to arrive at BlizzCon 2016.
For those counting, these are the actual facts in this excerpt:
- BlizzCon is indeed set to happen on Nov. 4th and 5th;
- there are indeed many rumours and much speculation flying around Diablo fan sites, forums, and Reddit about what Blizzard might announce at BlizzCon about Diablo, if anything; and
- iTechPost has indeed posted multiple articles filled with those rumours and speculations.
That's it. Speculation aside, Blizzard haven't announced who the next game director of Diablo will be; George Musketeer was never actually announced as Diablo's game director by Blizzard, and there's no evidence that he was replaced as such, by Wyatt Cheng or anyone else. All the older "Diablo team" job listings have vanished, and new ones have been posted, suggesting that some folks were hired and that they're hiring more, but right now, that's all we know for sure.
Activision Blizzard have been doing their very best to give the impression that Diablo 3 and its Reaper of Souls expansion have been a "long tail" success story, rather than just selling well when launched in new markets on the strength of Diablo 2's reputation, and it's a good bet that they'll make another Diablo-branded product of some kind, if only because it would be difficult to explain anything else to their shareholders at this point, but there's absolutely no way to tell if that next thing will be a Diablo sequel, a Diablo prequel, a 2nd D3 expansion pack, or high-def remakes of the earlier Diablo games. There's no factual basis for all this rampant speculation, but the speculation continues based on nothing at all; it's all nothing but empty hype.
And it's tough to even blame Blizzard for this one, because they're not contributing anything to the hype at all. While their total lack of any official announcements may be playing a part in driving desperate fans to ever-wilder speculations, it's tough to blame anyone but the fans themselves for this round of empty hype. The games media bloggers who are helping feed the frenzy are just quoting from fan sites and fora, after all -- they're certainly feeding off it like parasites, but they're not originating any of it. Fans are doing this one to themselves.
To those fans, all I can say is: stop. Just stop. Every BlizzCon and Gamescom for three years now has led to soul-crushing disappointment for Diablo fans, after each event passed with no new Diablo announcements from Blizzard, but the only people who are responsible for that are the fans themselves, who built up their own expectations to a fever pitch in spite of a total absence of any kind of signal from Blizzard that announcements would be forthcoming. Yes, it's been a long time since Blizzard last had anything to announce for Diablo; yes, they're almost certainly working on something; no, that thing is not necessarily going to be far enough along by this November for them to announce it at BlizzCon 2016.
Blizzard have a well-oiled hype machine of their own, which we've seen in action -- remember how much officially-fuelled hype preceded the launch of D3? They're not shy about this stuff; when they have something to hype, they'll flog the shit out whatever it is. Stop doing it for them, and setting yourself up for yet another disappointment in the process.
UPDATE: I've come across yet another article filled with empty speculation, but unlike most of the others I've seen, this one does it right.
From Movie News Guide:
UPDATE: I've come across yet another article filled with empty speculation, but unlike most of the others I've seen, this one does it right.
From Movie News Guide:
Diablo 4‘s fate seems to be undecided, at least for the time being. Rumors indicate that Blizzard is not very keen on developing another sequel for Diablo. Hence, it is taking the time to plan something else so that fans do not get upset.
The game developer released the last game of the franchise, Diablo III, in 2012. Since then, Blizzard has regularly introduced patch updates for the third game. However, it stopped doing so since September, making fans believe that the game has reached maintenance mode.
Despite the good success of the Diablo franchise, Blizzard has shown its reluctance in confirming the possible release of Diablo 4. Rather, there are new developments that indicate that the game developer is planning another new, big game.
[...]
Rumors and speculations regarding Diablo 4 started when Blizzard posted requirements for different positions on its career page. The game developer also called up applications for the post of game director, reports iTechPost. Fans speculated that it was because Blizzard was planning to come up with the fourth installment of Diablo at the BlizzCon 2016.
However, a recent discussion with one of the newly hired Blizzard employee suggests something else. The employee revealed that Blizzard is indeed planning something new for Diablo. But it is neither Diablo 4 nor the expansion of Diablo 3.
[...]
The employee hinted that the game developer is planning to break away from the traditional mold of gameplay. Rather Blizzard may come out with a brand new game. However, some fans believe that it is just a hype. They believe that Blizzard is certainly planning the fourth Diablo installment. But some are predicting that it may be a mobile version.
OMG! A story that alludes to an actual source, and that source isn't just another site's article full of empty speculation! They still manage to cite that same iTechPost piece, but they actually have something different to say, they say it coherently, and they clearly identify where they're speculating. Progress!
For what it's worth, though... "taking the time to plan something else so that fans do not get upset" really doesn't pair well with "planning to break away from the traditional mold of gameplay," or with "it may be a mobile version." Those things don't work together. At all. Just saying.