One Year Anniversary of Diablo 4 - Are We Getting There?
Exactly one year ago, on June 6th, 2023, Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo 4. It is safe to say that Blizzard's fourth installment of its iconic ARPG franchise has gone through a lot over the last twelve months. That is why we would like to take a step back and take a good look at Diablo 4's launch, the four Seasons released so far, the change of pace in Blizzard's game development, and how the future of Diablo 4 could look like!
Diablo 4 Beta and Launch
After a well-received Closed and Open Beta phase, including the iconic Server Slam weekend, fans around the globe were ready to return to the world of Sanctuary. While Blizzard's decision to provide 4 days worth of Early Access to Digital Deluxe and Ultimate Edition owners was met with community criticism, the Diablo 4 main launch experience on June 6th was incredibly smooth — especially compared to Diablo 3's launch back in 2012.
Reach Level 20, Collect Cry of Ashava — all was good during Diablo 4's Server Slam
Within the first five days of launch, Diablo 4 generated over $600 million in global sell-through — a record-setting launch for Blizzard Entertainment. At the same time, game journalists praised the game's return to dark fantasy and its compelling story campaign, resulting in a convincing Metacritic score of 86.
As the first weeks of Diablo 4 went by, players slowly recognized that, after reaching a certain level of character progression, the game didn't offer much to do in the endgame. Diablo 4's development team tried to improve the Nightmare Dungeon system by increasing experience rewards and adding the much-requested Teleport feature, but the result stayed the same: Diablo 4 was not only missing a ton of core quality-of-life features like Stash Search or improved Mounts; it was mostly missing a compelling endgame gameplay loop.
Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant
However, some community members were convinced that things would change with Diablo 4 Season 1. According to Diablo
