It seems that we have to wait until at least 2023 to play Diablo 4 with Overwatch 2.
This is according to Activision Blizzard, the company said the same thing in the third quarter 2021 conference call to investors last night.
In the conference call, Daniel Alegre, Activision’s president and chief operating officer, said that Blizzard is now planning to “delay the release” for the two games, rather than “as originally envisaged.” In other words, Blizzard plans to launch “a lot of content” next year, possibly from “World of Warcraft”, “Overwatch” and other games.
CEO Bobby Kotick added that he said that voluntary employee resignations and other reasons were part of the delays, and pointed out that the company’s “flow” of talent and “increased market competition” partially offset its recruitment success. .
Kotick also attributed the delay to cooperation with Blizzard and the new leadership within the franchise, especially in certain key creative roles. He told the new leadership that it is clear that some of the content that Blizzard plans to launch next year will “benefit from more development time to achieve its full potential.”
The new leadership mentioned by Blizzard Kotick involves Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, who were appointed as Blizzard’s co-leaders after J. Allen Brack stepped down as president.
Now, as Jen Oneal announced yesterday that she will leave the company, the studio has lost a new co-leader.
Before Oneal leaves at the end of the year, she will spend time working closely with Activision Blizzard and Women’s Games International (she is a member of the organization’s board of directors) to determine how the $1 million donation to the non-profit organization company will be used.
With the transfer of Blizzard’s responsibilities to Ybarra, Blizzard’s chief stated on an investor conference call that the additional time allocated to Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 will give the studio time to “significantly” increase the development team’s capacity before launch. scale.
“We have new leadership on Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, and they are all experienced Blizzard developers with more than 30 years of experience between them,” Ybarra said. “These teams have made a lot of progress recently and passed important milestones. We expect these to be great versions. But clearly the leadership has changed.
“This extra time will also help us ensure that we follow up with the release of rich content in order to continue to please the community. We will not share the release date at this time, but I have full confidence in the delivery of these new leaders and their teams. They are very Care about creating high-quality products and let everyone in the team show their best in their projects.”
Ybarra said that these two delays will also give the current team “more time to provide a great experience at launch and help ensure everything is in place to attract the community for many years to come.”
Diablo 4 was announced at Blizzard Carnival in November 2019, as was Overwatch 2.
Since its release, Blizzard has shared the development updates of “Diablo 4”, but in “Overwatch 2” it is rarely said and shown. Last time we heard that Bastion and Sombra will make some changes in the sequel. Before that, we learned about PvP games and heard news about plans for future beta versions.
After reports that the company cultivated a toxic culture, these delays were just the latest in a series of Activision Blizzard news. These allegations came to light as a result of California lawsuits filed for bullying, harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace.
To solve the company’s future problems, Actvision plans to respond to workplace abuse and improve its recruitment practices.
