The Diablo franchise is in a weird state right now. Diablo Immortal has been a runaway financial success for Blizzard, but the game has hurt Diablo's reputation due to its questionable, arguably predatory monetization. Diablo 4 has looked impressive in gameplay reveal trailers and the like, though many fans have expressed concern that it will mimic Diablo Immortal's microtransactions. Blizzard has tried to reassure fans about Diablo 4's microtransactions, but we won't know for sure how it will all work until the game is officially out.
Diablo 4 currently lacks a solid release date, though it's expected to drop at some point in the first half of 2023. It seems as though Diablo 4 fans who are excited to learn when exactly they can play the game should make sure to tune in to The Game Awards in December.
Right now, the industry is focused on Gamescom and preparing for the fall gaming rush, so there's not a lot of attention on The Game Awards or what it will entail come December. However, what is said to be a leaked internal document from Activision Blizzard claims that Diablo 4 will be at The Game Awards. Furthermore, the claim is made that Diablo 4 pre-orders will go live at the event, suggesting that the game could finally be getting its highly-anticipated release date announcement.
It would make sense for Blizzard to leverage a big event like The Game Awards to get more eyes on Diablo 4, but even though this leak seems legitimate, fans should still take the information with a grain of salt. Plans could always change between now and The Game Awards in December. After all, the document is missing some key information related to a different Activision Blizzard-published game coming this year that could cast some doubt on its reliability.
Activision recently confirmed that digital pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would get early access to the campaign. This isn't mentioned on this leaked report, with the only relevant Modern Warfare 2 dates mentioned being the game's launch and the potential Warzone 2 release date. Granted, it's entirely possible that plans to make the Modern Warfare 2 campaign early were made after this document was put together, and it's also possible that it wasn't deemed important enough info to include. After all, the potential MW2 multiplayer beta dates are also missing.
Whatever the case may be, chances seem good that Diablo 4 will be featured at The Game Awards in December. If fans don't get a release date announcement, hopefully they get to check out some new Diablo 4 gameplay at the very least.
Diablo 4 is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
