The biggest potential Blizzard games of 2021 will apparently have to wait. According to The Verge, both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV were mentioned during a Q1 earnings call on Thursday, and the news wasn’t good for folks hoping the titles see the light of day this year.
During its most recent earnings call, Activision Blizzard revealed that it doesn’t expect Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV to be part of its 2021 financials, suggesting both will launch in 2022 or later.
Technically, this doesn’t represent a delay since neither game had a specific release date in place. Both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV were first announced at BlizzCon 2019, and the developer has been relatively quiet since then, particularly about the Overwatch sequel.
While the news is certainly disappointing for fans who are eager to see new versions of their favorite titles, giving games more time to percolate is likely good news for the overall quality of the end result. Building good games, especially sequels to wildly popular titles, takes a long time. And as we’ve seen with a title like Cyberpunk 2077, putting pressure on developers to deliver on an unrealistic timeline can doom titles and cause the exact kind of business chaos companies try to avoid when they pressure the creative side of the business to hit deadlines.
Overwatch remains massively popular, and players are certainly eager to get a new game. We don’t know when Activision Blizzard expects to show off either title, or whether they’ll have a release date soon. But we do know now that we’ll be waiting a bit longer for any news at all, let alone a chance to play.
[via The Verge]