04-04-2024 Are we still on track with D4?

General Discussion
1

04-04-2024 is my predicted release date of Diablo 4. Its not official so don’t flip your lid. I’m curious if the dev team is still on track or have they suffered delays given the internal crap at Blizzard that is spilling over into the legal system. As far as the legal battles go…

If Blizzard the company or its employees violated the law then they should be held accountable. I don’t plan on eye-balling every twist and turn of their legal battles.

My focus is on:

  • What will be the last class in the base game and which class will be side lined until expansion
  • Release date
  • Updates on the development of D4
  • 64 bit Native Linux game client?.. at release? Please…
  • Vulkan support?
  • Mac support at release (Mac boys and girls like Diablo games too)

For the Linux native 64-bit game client I’m willing to pay $10 additional just for it to be available and completely functional at release date, and I’ll pre-order it. I don’t care if you cut a deal with Valve or sign a contract with Feral Interactive. Just as long as the game is done properly, and complete and fully function on Arch, Ubuntu/Debian, and Fedora based distros. You’ve already done deals with Vicarious Visions and some Chinese organization(s), and I doubt those will be the last deals. Make it happen.

*** If you like Windows, then continue to enjoy Windows. Don’t bring hate ***

2

Stick to the Blizzard script in the blogs. We need to stop making up release dates already. 2022 can still be a good year for the company.

2 Likes
3

I don’t work for Blizzard shorty so, I’m not bound by any script. I posted the 2024 date as a prediction in a thread back in 2019 or last year. It was for laughs and gags. If there are delays its not like we can turn back the hands of time. Besides my predicted release date is based on all those 4’s.

4

You already know the answer to this.

And this.

Congrats on saving $70.

2 Likes
5

It can’t and won’t be done until it is done. So, until it is done… something… something… wave cash and credit cards to draw attention… something… something… it is done!

6

Right now all I care about is the next D4 blog hopefully next week. Make it a goog one Blizzard. :pray:

7

That’s what i’m saying basically.

8

I’m not really seeing it. I was thinking about this a few days ago…it seems like the Diablo franchise is the thing to “save” blizzard at the moment. WoW is taking a severe crap and I doubt an expansion will come out in 2022. Overwatch 2 probably won’t be out by then. Starcraft is effectively dead and Heroes of the Storm. What’s left but this franchise?

Monetization schemes are going to go through the roof to make up for any lost income. RMAH may not be back but something else will

9

In about 4 days when next quarterly update release we may know about a solid release date. If not, then always expect it’s 2-3 years ahead of us at least.

10

It would be a miracle that the D4 development is ongoing smoothly after the scandal and court case that they are dealing with at this moment.

I only know that there were people leaving the Overwatch team this week.

https://sea.ign.com/overwatch-2/176781/news/executive-in-charge-of-overwatch-2-leaves-blizzard

Who knows how many were also leaving the D4 team behind the scene.

11

I’m going to assume you guys are speaking the truth. What you guys are describing are a bunch of opportunities for employees and Blizz as a company to switch up their plans. If the revenue losses are big enough it will send Blizz chasing new customers and new opportunities. IMHO, they really should be doing 4 things:

  1. Targeting Vulkan on all platforms
  2. Targeting Linux
  3. Finding ways to reinvigorate their e-Sports initiatives
  4. Make more games

Why Vulkan?
Vulkan is strong on Linux, Windows, Mac OS-X, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and PS-5 has Vulkan support. I believe the Kronos Group released a Vulkan port to Xbox series X last year. Direct X is only available on Windows and Xbox. If you have a Nvidia or AMD card in your PC then you already have Vulkan installed. Vulkan is an open standard and Direct X is not. Most, if not all of the above platforms, support OpenGL but Vulkan vastly outperforms OpenGL. Vulkan is the future.

D-Immortal is already on the path to the Asian mobile market. Targeting Vulkan instead of OpenGL leads to portability. This means they can have Immortal running native on more than just the 2 mobile platforms. They are going to need that MTX money.

Why Linux?
With a chunk of the game code base targeting Vulkan this enables portability paths to Linux for Blizz games. Get the Linux gaming nerds amp’d. Blizz does not need help building hype/demand for their products. Blizz could sell $40 bundle packs similar to the 30th Anniversary Collection bundles, but these bundles would go toward funding their Linux ports. Ports for games like D3RoS, SC-2, SC-R, War3R, and Overwatch. Throw $40 at the bundle and get access to the native Linux ports? Yes please! There is room to structure the bundle and the pricing appropriately to get players to open their wallets. Linux ports for games like Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, and D2R would just be normal purchases at full price. If they put it on tux I could be persuaded to plop down some $bucks.

There is no point in starting from scratch on Linux. Feral Interactive has experience with Vulkan on Linux, Mac OS-X, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and they have Windows game dev experience. There is also Valve who is investing heavily into Linux. If Blizz can do remasters then they can do some Vicarious Visions + Feral Interactive collab. porting work. They could also cut a deal with Valve to gain access to Linux expertise. Having access to folks with expertise = speed.

PS3, PS4, and PS5 all use an OS based on FreeBSD. Mac OS-X is based on FreeBSD. All of those platforms have their own customizations to FreeBSD, but there has to be some commonality between those platforms and Linux that can be turned into an advantage. The first commonality among them is Vulkan. Android is based on the Linux kernel. Blizz is already running Linux on their back end game servers so, they already have a boot on the platform. Commonality in the platforms means less variability in the versions of the games. Less variability = more development speed.

D4 is still a fetus which means its better to build a path to Linux now. Just make sure there is strong compatibility with Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, Open SuSe and Fedora based distros. No Raspberry Pi jokes please. By setting compatibility targets at those base distros, the distros that depend on those bases will have a high degree of compatibility. For example, if it runs on Arch then it will run on Manjaro. If it runs on Unbuntu and Debian then it should work on all of the Buntus such as Kubuntu and Linux Mint.

There is demand for gaming on Linux. How do I know this? Steam Deck pre-orders are sold out for 2021. All of them have been reserved. The pre-orders sold out almost instantly. Steam Deck = portable x64 PC running Linux and Steam/Proton. The x64 PC platform is the same Intel/AMD/NVidia platform that you run your Windows on. Steam Deck has access to HDMI, Displayport, Ethernet, USB-C. This means one can use a PC flat panel or TV as external displays. A regular keyboard can be connected to it as well.

Why e-sports?
DotA 2 has a $40 mill prize pool for 2021. CS:GO had a $15.8 million prize pool last year. DoTA 2, Team Fortress 2, and CS:GO are free to play games available on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (native). I’m not sure what Blizz is or has done wrong in this area, but they need to figure out how to revive their SC-R, SC-2, War3R, and HotS e-Sports and make money off of it. Maybe my kid should put college on hold and go after some of that prize money; especially since he plays DotA 2, War3, Team Fortress 2, SC-2, Hearthstone, D3, and Overwatch.

Why more games?
More revenue streams. They need something new that isn’t WoW, Diablo, or Overwatch. Blizz might have to pull a Microsoft and start buying up game studios such as Epic Games. Although, I would love to see Valve acquire Epic and put all their games on Steam/Linux.

12

Uhh… Everything? Yeah I wanna answer this with “Everything”.
Starting from weird game design of major series and dwindling support when failed to stay relevant. Showing IceFrog the door thus throwing him at Valve which they gained billions. I mean, good job, Blizzard. Really. You cut off an entire opportunity because you were, as always, donning an arrogant attitude.
Then there’s getting sued for employer rights and so on… It’s rumored that 800 they laid off, 2 years back were problematic figures who would get them in trouble down the road but also did the organization of events and conventions. This way, they narrowed down their scope while getting rid of them. Currently they have no care, idea or will to revise their esports scene when they’re dabbling in court cases. If it’s not obvious by pulling plugs on many esport scenes, it should be clear when they lost their several sponsorship support.

1 Like
13

Diablo has always been Blizzards best option.

14

Best option of what?

Diablo franchise made lesser money than WoW, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and SC2 Esport.

15

It probably did but it’s not always about money. I mean… it is now but Diablo was always Blizzards fav and you know it. It was first afterall.

16

Actually, WoW is Blizzard’s favorite. Maybe Diablo was their favorite in the past before WoW was created but if you want to believe that Diablo is Blizzard’s favorite, well, good for you.

17

Yes i do believe that after everything.
I could go into great detail but i won’t as it goes bk at least 10 years.

18

I would expect late 2023 or early 2024 is a reasonable timeframe.

1 Like
19

They said in one of the Earnings calls that 2022 was going to be a good year. We know about D:I, so what other releases are planned for 2022? I was hoping D4 would be at the end of 2022 but I am not so sure anymore.

  • Whenever D4 launches I hope it is not a mess like D2R was (is).
20

OW2 is more likely to be the big release of 2022 than D4.

2 Likes