The stock had reacted positively to the quarterly figures from Activision Blizzard. Investors should be pleased, but for fans there is bad news, but also some good news - and some maybe surprising. The fact is now: Neither Diablo 4 nor Overwatch 2 will be released in 2021.
Anyone who had hoped that Blizzard could announce the release dates of Overwatch 2 or even Diablo 4 at the upcoming online in-house exhibition BlizzConline should be disappointed by what the Activision leadership recently announced on the "Earnings Call".
Wait a long time, don't wait any longer
Accordingly, Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 will no longer be released in 2021, it should be in 2022 at the earliest. That may be disappointing for fans, after all they are looking forward to the releases of the two successors. Nevertheless: So far, Blizzard had not announced any dates. So fans have to wait a long time for the releases, but not necessarily longer, because after all, it is not about postponements. It was only in December that Jeff Kaplan reached out to fans with news about Overwatch 2 - and announced that the game would also be on the BlizzCononline to thematize. So there will be news, but not surprisingly the naming of a release date.
The same applies to Diablo 4. So far there have been no indications of a possible release date. The fact that Diablo 4 will also be released "at the earliest in 2022", according to Activision finance chief Dennis Durkin in a conference call, is less surprising than a pity for fans who are looking forward to the release. You know it from Blizzard: When it's done. This requires patience, but also allows developers to develop games with little or no release pressure.
The free stream of BlizzConline could still be a consolation, after all, there are also programs for these two titles that last several hours - and probably one or the other little surprise.
WarCraft mobiles in development
Gamble Warcraft on your smartphone? This is no longer just a pious wish, but could become reality. As the publisher Activision Blizzard announced in its quarterly conference, several mobile games for the WarCraft franchise are in development. One wants to enrich the brand with free-2-play titles, said Activision boss Bobby Kotick. Fans should then be able to experience the WarCraft universe in a new way. Activision Blizzard will continue to serve the successful brand in the future in order to “maintain and expand the World of Warcraft community”.
That sounds at least ambitious, after all, WoW players are not necessarily known for wanting to welcome mobile offshoots - and F2P at that - with open arms. There were no further details on the projects, which are said to be in an “advanced development phase”. Everything is possible with it: from the Warcraft hidden object game to the adaptation of the Warcraft series for smartphones and tablets.
Developers have proven several times in the past that it is now possible to implement video games for mobile devices without any problems: For example, a mobile game appeared as a real mobile MMO for Eve Online, and even strategic games such as Company of Heroes can now be played on smart devices . So it does not fail because of the fundamental possibilities. Rather because Blizzard somehow manages to trip itself up - like the one in the remaster for Warcraft 3, Warcraft 3that didn’t fail completely, but could have turned out better.
Topic remaster: The publisher Activision Blizzard had also commented on this. There should be more of it. Remasters have proven to be successful for the games giant: new editions of Spyro, Crash and Tony Hawk were well received by the fans. The skateboard game in particular was a real best seller. With Tony Hawk 1 + 2, Vicarious Vision had delivered a good product. So good that the team is now assigned to Blizzard. Rumor has it that Vicarious Vision is on one Remaster for Diablo 2 involved, that would at least fit in with Activision's plans.
The fact that Activision shares reacted positively was ultimately due to the figures presented. So it was Shadowlands, the new expansion for World of Warcraft, sold around 3,7 million times on the first day - that was the record for the fastest-selling PC game. However, it only lasted a short time: It was CD Projekt Red's action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077, which quickly set another record sat.
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