I mean this was just something some guy found. I haven’t seen Blizzard actively marketing D4 outside if Blizzcon/dev talks.
I wouldn’t be so hasty to give early dates for release before seeing what next Blizzconline to offer at 2021, which is just february ahead. Normally game demo showcase supposed to be a beta version while the game demo in Blizzcon was a merely pre-alpha version just shoved out of the door. Even if it was a beta version demo, that’s clearly means 3 years of development because it’s a sequel.
I still say 1-2 years is a pretty early for game to shape up from a pre-alpha state to the full version; game development has to reach alpha from pre-alpha phase then there comes closed beta then open beta before full release. Game version will not be v0.0.0.1 pre-alpha from v1.0.0.1 full release in a single night by adding a “1” to the patch version. That’s not just unrealistic, it’s kinda hilarious how passionate and impatient you are.
There are sure blueprints in game making but none of the sequences are set in stone at this early. Each phase has months between them, the feedback, the game tests, analyzing the data, the sequential meetings, coding, art direction, rinse and repeat. If you wanna simply throw everything at the sight of a mere bookmark, rug or mat, go for it. I rather wait and see if we can hear a release date after words of “not even Blizzard soon”. There’s a difference between updating or patching a completed game and making the entirety of it.
My guess is at least 3 to 4 years for this total. Any merchandise just serve as free advertisement and just there to cement their committance to it. Sure we will hear something about D4 but insisting it will release next year is no different than saying it will arrive next week on shelves; they’re equally credible.
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I dunno. I bought D1 and loved it. I bought D2 as soon as it came out because I loved D1. I preordered D3 because I loved D1 and D2. I definitely will not preorder D4 because they released D3 in an unfinished, unpolished beta state. Many former Blizz customers I know feel the same way since they have adopted the marketing philosophy of “rush it to market, and fix it later”.
Marketing suicide is rushing a product to market to make a quick buck and at the same time damaging your reputation to the point where you won’t make far less bucks on future products.
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The infamous Jay Wilson:
No one will remember if the game is late, only if it’s great.
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They can release D4 right now and it won’t be rushed for me. I guess I am that type of person that doesn’t need shiny UI and polished content to enjoy a game, but everyone’s tolerance to bugs is different so it might be the opposite case for you. PoE on the other site is still full of bugs and crashes even after so many years in development. So, that perfect Diablo 1 scenario is valid only for the past.
At some point in time (from now until sometime in 2022) they have to release D4 otherwise they risk much more than making a bunch of gamers unhappy due to experiencing some errors.
Do you need itemization, skills, end-game etc.?
What exactly do they risk?
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Itemization and skills are already in the game. I don’t need endgame for first few Seasons (D2 scenario is okay for that period).
They risk losing big portions of player base that would go to other games and never return to D4 no matter how polished and shiny it is.
From statistical pov, if you give the game right now to 100 people and half of them stay in it becoming players that follow this game, the right course of action is to release the game since those others can always return when the game meet their requirements in the future. There’s much more risk of not releasing the game to polish it than to release it in early stage.
Doubt it. Diablo 4 will see a large number of players at it’s launch date regardless of when it’s release. Now whether or not it can retain said players will be dependent on how well the game is developed, which is something that most rushed games aren’t.
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Why will people return more today than they will in 2 years?
People certainly returned to D3, despite a 10+ year wait.
As for items, skills etc. You have a few legendaries, some affixes. Hardly means the game has playable itemization. Same with skill, each clas missing some skills, all of them missing anything resembling depth in the skill customization. Releasing now would be a disaster for Blizzard, and risking outright killing Diablo for good.
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Oblivion,
Could you give me a few minutes and come over to the lore page. I have a question for you? This OP has already run off track.
Diablo 4 is not Cyberpunk Online however. You overestimate it a lot.
Because 2 years from now the gaming scene would be way more competitive.
It would be far less of a disaster than releasing in late 2022.
No, that’s a proper estimation. There’s no way Diablo 4 won’t see a sizable number of players at it’s launch, unless Blizzard seriously messes something up, which, excluding a launch date, could be many things.
Why will it be way more competitive in 2 years?
Actually seems like it might be less competitive in 2 years. PoE 2.0 presumably arrives in 2021, Last Epoch is seemingly 2021 too, but probably a smaller competitor.
Cyberpunk Online is hardly a competitor to Diablo 4.
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Diablo 4 is an aRPG, not the most popular genre. Look at Twitch - how many aRPGs are there in the top - none.
It’s the greatest competitor. This game will steal a great amount of D4 player base.
Why would you believe that?
They are drastically different games. Unlikely to be a great overlap in player bases. Heck, Cyberpunk Online seems to be a drastically different game than Cyberpunk 2077, I could see those two not having much overlap either. Always hard to draw conclusions from personal experience, but while 2077 is one of my most anticipated games, I cant imagine I would ever want to play Cyberpunk Online. Everyone I know that want to play Cyberpunkt 2077 seems to have the same view. Because they are not remotely the same type of game. That doesn’t mean Cyberpunk Online wont be popular. Just that it will be popular with a very different type of audience. An audience that likely wont care much about Diablo 4 one way or the other. And vice versa.
How is that relevant for Oblivions claim?
Twitch or no, Diablo 4 will have a plenty number of players flocking to it at it’s launch. It’s nearly guaranteed. The challenge that Diablo 4 will face is keeping those players, and I can confidently say that rushing to release the game unfinished is a surefire way of losing those players fast and easy.
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Not realistic.
Incase you say that because of the leak you linked in the other post, it also says…
Release is being debated between late 2020 and 2021
Late 2020 now and it’s still pre-alpha.
Not so drastically different (both has RPG elements) and the current gamer attitude is more broad than in the past (players tend to check more games nowadays).
Cyberpunk Online will stay for a very long time with a huge REAL player base. It’s a modern version of GTA on steroids. Diablo 4 is a successor to a very bad accepted previous game in the series. If Diablo 4 haven’t built a solid player base before Cyberpunk Online kicks, it would take on the D3 route (and we all here know where this leads to).
Yes, let them wait for 2023 and try to keep those who’ll mainly play the (polished) story line? Wrong. Releasing an early access aRPG grants you way more players due to lower market competition. You can’t evaluate properly the risk of delaying such type of a game. One word - suicide. It would be actually worse than what paragon caused D3. The good thing is of course Blizzard made changes to their marketing team after the Blizzcon fiasco and they’ll take the proper decision, which would be to release an unpolished game and capitalize on it ASAP.
I’m not sure about that. They do that a lot for highly anticipated games, even when they do turn out to be great game. I bought an artbook for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night like a year before the game’s release.