Diablo 4's release date not possible without crunch, says recent report
A report from The Washington Post claims that Blizzard are unwilling to delay the game any further.
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In order to meet Diablo 4's June 2023 release date, crunch will have to happen, according to devs that have worked on the game in a recent report.
Earlier this week at The Game Awards, Blizzard revealed the date for its highly anticipated follow-up Diablo 4, which is officially releasing June 6. Earlier in the day, The Washington Post shared a report claiming it spoke with 15 current and former developers on Diablo 4, who claim making that release date will be difficult without working "significant overtime."
"We’re at the point where they’re not willing to delay the game anymore," a current Blizzard Albany employee told The Washington Post. "So we all just have to go along and figure out how much we’re willing to hurt ourselves to make sure the game gets released in a good enough state."
According to the report, the Diablo team has been losing staff for more than a year, with former employees looking for better wages and work conditions. Diablo 4 was delayed into 2023 last year, which Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick explained as the reasoning behind the company's stocks dropping rather than the numerous lawsuits alleging discrimination and harassment the company has faced.
A former Diablo 4 team lead explained that this comment "felt very much like he just drove the bus over on top of us." A spokesperson for Blizzard Entertainment told The Washington Post that the company "regularly [surveys] the team on their professional well-being, and the latest results are the most positive they’ve been in years." In contrast, a current Blizzard Albany employee spoke of the frequent 12-hour days they've experienced at the company. "It’s affected my health, it’s affected my relationships, both familiar and romantic," said the employee. "It affects my ability to just enjoy things."
The full report goes into much more detail about the alleged continuous problems Blizzard is still facing, and is worth reading to understand the full scope of things.