Blizzard Just Made A Big Diablo Reveal More Likely
Blizzcon 2018 is just over a month away, and Blizzard has just given the biggest hint that a Diablo related news will be on the cards.
The developer has published the full schedule for their annual convention, offering the biggest indication of what to expect. Apart from the lower rounds and bracket play for various Blizzard tournaments, the schedule reveals that a panel titled "Diablo: What's Next" will headline after the opening ceremony, followed by a panel on the future of Overwatch.
Blizzard has typically used the first panel immediately after the opening keynote for their major announcements in years past. After cancelling Blizzcon in 2012, the company followed their 2013 opening keynote with a panel exploring the then-announced expansion for World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor.
2014 was the year Overwatch was announced, and Jeff Kaplan and co. took the main stage after the keynote to explain Blizzard's move into first-person shooters. 2015 was followed by an overview of Legion, the then-upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, while a panel covering Hearthstone's Gadgetzan expansion took the main stage after 2016's keynote.
Finally, last year's Blizzcon went from the opening speech straight into a 90 minute discussion of the seventh WoW expansion, Battle for Azeroth. Blizzard also officially announced they were working on a "classic server option" for World of Warcraft.
Diablo hasn't had such a prominent spot on the Blizzcon schedule for a while. Even in 2016, when Blizzard was celebrating the 20th anniversary of Diablo, Heroes of the Storm, WoW, Overwatch and Hearthstone were on the main stage first. The game didn't get any new announcements at Blizzcon 2017, either.
So with the release of Diablo 3 on the Switch, the re-confirmation of the animated Diablo Netflix series, and job postings on the Blizzard website confirming "a new, unannounced Diablo project", this year is as good a time as ever to announce some fresh dungeon slaying. The official Diablo account also hinted that "we have multiple Diablo projects in the works" just before Gamescom.
