The existence of Diablo 4 may have been leaked. You’d be forgiven if you thought it was by someone working on the team creating the game or someone within Blizzard. Instead, it has come from a source one just wouldn’t expect in the digital age of 2019, a magazine. German magazine GameStar had an advertisement for the upcoming coffee table book “The Art of Diablo,” set to release November 3rd. The hardcover is described on Amazon as “‘compiling twenty years’ worth of concept, design and environmental art that has defined the world of Sanctuary and the Eternal Conflict.”.
The advertisement on GameStar claims the book has artwork from Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Diablo 3 and Diablo 4. Funny, none of us have seen the artwork for Diablo 4. We’ve also never seen any of Diablo 4 before either. Fans have clamored for a sequel for years now. The controversy was at full hype at last year’s Blizzcon when there was an expected announcement. Instead, much to the disappointment of fans, Diablo Immortal was announced for mobile.
Blizzard Stumbles its Way to BlizzCon
Blizzard has been dodging and stumbling into many controversies over the past year. The most recent being, Hearthstone champion Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung. His title, prize money, and suspension were all revoked. Since the recent events, they’ve restored his prize money, but only reduced his suspension. In addition, Blizzard claims that his suspension is unrelated to his China and Hong Kong comments. Despite this, #BoycottBlizzard caught on pretty big with the public in support of Hong Kong and Blitzchung. In other words, Blizzard needs all the positive publicity it can get right now.
Diablo 4 at BlizzCon 2019?
The potential announcement of the title should come as no surprise. Bad press combined with coming up on eight years since the release of Diablo 3. BlizzCon is also the perfect venue for such a large fan-pleasing move. It’s possible the timing is simply coincidence, the game has reportedly been in development for many years. Rumors suggest that it was rebooted in 2016 after the first version looked more like a Dark Souls style title (may we always wonder what that would have been like).
Did the magazine GameStar reveal the upcoming Diablo 4 title? Was it simply a misprint? Or was this some next level leaked on purpose marketing trick? It shouldn’t be long before we get our answer, BlizzCon 2019 fast approaches! Located in Anaheim, California, November 1-2.