Diablo 4 to launch in April 2023 claim insiders – as Xbox hints at more StarCraft-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

Diablo 4 – expect a new trailer in just a month’s time (pic: Blizzard)

A new trailer for Diablo 4 is rumoured for The Game Awards 2022 and will announce a release date and pre-order details.

While it was confirmed for a 2023 launch back at the June Xbox showcase, neither Microsoft nor Activision Blizzard said exactly when Diablo 4 will be out.

Since then, the game has suffered from quite a few gameplay leaks because of closed alpha and beta tests, with a public test still to come.

The latest leak, however, has given away not only Activision’s marketing strategy for the game, but also an exact release month of April.

Apparently, the plan is to drop a new trailer during The Game Awards 2022 in December (which itself was previously rumoured and a safe assumption) to kickstart the game’s advertising campaign.

In addition, details on the various special editions will be shared and pre-orders are believed to include early access to the aforementioned public beta in February, two months before launch.

This information comes from both the XboxEra podcast and Windows Central, who have corroborated each other’s claims.

The latter also adds some details regarding Diablo 4’s live service elements. Developer Blizzard Entertainment already confirmed earlier this year that Diablo 4 would function as a live service title, with microtransactions and multiple seasons of content planned.

Windows Central believes that Diablo 4’s first season won’t actually start until later in the year, during the third quarter. So, around July to September time, which is three to five months after launch.

As a quick reminder, Diablo 4 will be multiplatform and is coming to PlayStation, since Microsoft has yet to complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

This hasn’t stopped Xbox boss Phil Spencer from hyping up the possibilities of what the acquisition will lead to though, as he’s previously hinted at reviving some of his favourite franchises, such as King’s Quest and Guitar Hero.

More recently, he was asked if there are any plans for Blizzard’s sci-fi strategy series StarCraft. Although he couldn’t answer in detail, and said that he can’t make any decisions at Activision or Blizzard yet, his personal enjoyment of StarCraft means he’ll likely push for a new title.

After all, he’s also a fan of Battletoads and after appearing to hint at a revival back in 2015, a reboot was announced in 2018. So, Spencer likely has some influence over which series get a new entry.

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‘I don’t have any concrete plans today because I can’t really get in and work with the teams. But StarCraft was a seminal moment in gaming, right? From an esports perspective, from real-time strategy on console perspective, and from just a real-time strategy storytelling perspective in the genre,’ he told Wired.

‘I’m excited about getting to sit down with the teams at Activision and Blizzard and King to talk about back catalogue and opportunities that we might have. … The thought of being able to think about what could happen with those franchises is pretty exciting to me, as somebody who spent a lot of hours playing those games.’

StarCraft has not had a new entry since 2010’s StarCraft 2: Wings Of Liberty. In the following years, Blizzard has only released expansions for it and a 2017 remaster of the original StarCraft from 1998.

Diablo 4 launches for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2023.

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