Diablo 4 is a massive success: Action RPG fans have already spent 10,000 years of gameplay in Blizzard's next masterpiece. PCWorld spoke to Art Director John Mueller and Game Director Joe Piepiora about the artworks, philosophers, and mindsets that formed the basis for the greatest Diablo of all time. PCWorld: Whenever we play Diablo 4, we think of a quote by Stanley Kubrick: "Every Frame a Painting." Diablo 4 seems very artistic, and has a lot of elements that in combination create a harmonious picture and make the game seem as if we were walking around in a work of art. What did you draw inspiration from?

Publisher Activision Blizzard, responsible for the game this article refers to, is currently embroiled in ongoing litigation in regards to claims reporting a workplace culture that allegedly enabled acts of sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination. Diablo 4 is currently in development but it looks like its release is still a long way off. That hasn't stopped us from searching out the best rumors and the latest news about Blizzard's upcoming hack'n slash adventure. The Diablo series certainly is undergoing something of a resurgence right now. First announced at Blizzcon 2019, Diablo 4 development has supposedly been progressing since. Diablo 2 Resurrected, a remaster of the PC classic, has already been released and Diablo Immortal is expected to arrive on Android and iOS devices in 2022. Naturally, though, we're most excited about the release of Diablo 4 and thanks to Blizzard's quarterly development updates, we're learning more about it all the time. With the recent announcement that Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard, the landscape around Diablo 4's development is changing and it currently remains unclear what the acquisition could mean for the game if it goes through, especially as Diablo 4's release is so far down the line--we're not expecting it until at least 2023. While we wait, though, here's all the news, updates and rumors we've collated about Diablo 4 so far. What could this mean for Diablo 4's release? Read on to find out more.] Bad news here: Diablo 4 probably won't be released anytime soon. At a Blizzcon 2019 deep dive on the game, the game's director said that he doesn't expect the game to be finished anytime soon, "even by Blizzard's standards of soon." Fast-forward to the end of 2021, and that comment still stands after the announcement of an indefinite delay. During Activision Blizzard's Q3 earnings call in November 2021, it made the following statement: "While we are still planning to deliver a substantial amount of content from Blizzard next year, we are now planning for a later launch for Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV than originally envisaged".

Blizzard recently announced their plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Diablo, and they're doing it across all their games instead of releasing a ton of stuff into just Diablo 3 itself. While Diablo 3 is getting a "Darkening of Tristam" event with revamped areas and old items, the rest of the celebration is spread across other games. Once again, it reminds me about just how strange the massive success of Diablo 3 has been, and how that hasn't translated into terribly logical support for the game the last year or two. Diablo 3 is currently the 10th best-selling game of all time. While that includes multiple SKUs, Diablo 3, Reaper of Souls, and editions that include both, other games on that list include console bundled games (Wii Sports) or titles that have been sold for incredibly cheap across a zillion platforms (Tetris, Minecraft), so I don't think that's disqualifying.