Blizzard Entertainment announced today that Diablo IV, the next generation installment in the genre-defining series, is debuting in 2023. Blizzard also announced that Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, alongside versions for Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, with cross-play and cross-progression enabled for all platforms. Inside Sanctuary—a realm long embattled by the devastating wars between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells—decades have passed since the events of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, but the world remains plagued by a sinister, corrupting force. And now Lilith, the Daughter of Hatred, has been reborn in the mortal world and is determined to rule over Sanctuary once more.

Joining the battle alongside iconic classes Barbarian, Sorceress, Rogue, and Druid is the legendary Necromancer, the fifth playable character class, which returns with newly designed undead mechanics. Players will be able to utilize the Necromancer's Book of the Dead, an all-new ability for the class, allowing them to dominate the battlefield with deeper customization of their undead army than ever before. Fight with aggressive skeleton Warriors, fast-attacking Skirmishers, sword and board Defenders, or scythe-wielding Reapers. Unleash a litany of spells with Skeleton Mages, imbuing them with shadow, cold, and sacrificial magics. Deploy tanking Bone Golems, health-stealing Blood Golems, and charging Iron Golems. Or sacrifice them all to absorb their power.

The Lord of Terror has been defeated, but darker days lie ahead for Sanctuary's newest heroes. Diablo Immortal, the latest, all-new entry in Blizzard Entertainment's iconic Diablo franchise, is live and available for download free on iOS and Android mobile platforms, and in open beta on Windows PC via Battle.net, throughout most regions of the world, with select Asia-Pacific regions coming June 22. In celebration of the launch and in gratitude to the more than 35 million people who pre-registered for Diablo Immortal, all players who log in to the game and complete the tutorial within the next 30 days will be able to deck out their characters to battle demons in style with the ceremonial Horadrim Cosmetic Set.

"We're thrilled to now be able to put the newest entry in the Diablo series in players' hands," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "The visceral gameplay, dark story, and depth of character customization that Diablo is known for are all here in Diablo Immortal. And with this being a AAA free-to-play Blizzard game, it was important to us to give players a full and highly engaging core game experience—including upcoming features, character classes, story, and more—completely free."

The Worldstone is shattered, and it now falls to the heroes of Sanctuary to fend off the terrors rising in its wake. Blizzard Entertainment today announced that beginning June 2, players in most regions across the world will take up the call to defend against the Burning Hells in Diablo Immortal, the first Blizzard game designed from the ground up for mobile, with the remaining regions in Asia-Pacific gaining access a few weeks later. n addition to offering an uncompromised AAA experience on mobile, the most ambitious game released in the Diablo franchise's 25-year history will enter into Open Beta on Windows PC at launch. Diablo Immortal supports both cross-play and cross-progression, allowing Sanctuary's heroes to join the fight with each other regardless of platform while being able to seamlessly transition between mobile and PC gameplay. The Open Beta on PC will contain all game features, including cross-play and cross-progression, and upon conclusion all progress will be maintained.

"The demons of the Burning Hells are ready to be slain in the most expansive Diablo game that Blizzard has ever released," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "As Blizzard's first game designed from the ground up for mobile, it was important to us to deliver an experience worthy of the franchise, so we did a lot of testing, incorporated a lot of feedback, and created a game that we're very excited to share with players. We're looking forward to unleashing this epic new entry in the Diablo franchise, and we can't wait to join everyone in Sanctuary." With the fate of Sanctuary in their hands, players will choose between six iconic Diablo classes-Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, or Wizard-and embark on a journey through eight unique zones and the great city of Westmarch. They will join up with new and familiar Diablo characters, including the franchise's patriarch Deckard Cain, on an expansive quest to hunt down the shattered pieces of the corrupted Worldstone before the forces of the Burning Hells can gather them for their own sinister plans in an epic all-new story taking place between the events of Diablo II and Diablo III.

Diablo II, one of the most acclaimed titles in PC gaming history, returns... and Hell has never looked better. Blizzard Entertainment today revealed Diablo II: Resurrected, the definitive remastering of Diablo II and its Lord of Destruction expansion—two hallmark entries in the company's genre-defining action role-playing series.

Diablo II was hailed by Time magazine as "arguably the best role-playing game of all time, the best dungeon-crawler of all time and the best PC game of all time." Diablo II: Resurrected welcomes back veteran heroes and invites a new generation of players to experience the game's sinfully dark storyline, thrilling loot chase, and visceral hack-and-slash gameplay with modernized visuals that take advantage of the latest gaming hardware.

Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon 2019 in Anaheim, California formally announced Diablo IV to the world, building on the 2012-released Diablo III as promised, after the company announced a refocus on its existing franchises. According to Blizzard, the game's premise stands as "Diablo IV takes place many years after the events of Diablo III, after millions have been slaughtered by the actions of the High Heavens and Burning Hells alike. In the vacuum of power, a legendary name resurfaces."

Blizzard claimed Diablo IV would have darker, grittier overtones such as in the earlier entries in the franchise, a style that was left somewhat in the background for Diablo III. There will be more blood, there will be more gore, and for now, three classes have been announced that will be your avatars in partaking in violence on Diablo IV: the barbarian, sorceress, and druid. Blizzard has also said some words regarding a technological push in the game, claiming that "This technology is at the heart of everything players will see, hear, and feel — delivering much higher fidelity and a more engrossing experience." No details on what exactly this meant were shared by the company, though. Chek out the reveal and gameplay trailers after the break.

Blizzard's upcoming hero-shooter "Overwatch 2" will support a PvE game mode in addition to the usual PvP, according to an ESPN ESports report citing a source at BlizzCon. The game will reportedly feature at least one new hero, several new hero talents, and at least one 4-player PvE story mission set in Rio de Janeiro. There's a new game mode called "Push," debuting with a new map based on Toronto. The PvE mission and the Push game mode will be available to play to attendees at the 2019 BlizzCon expo, which opens this Friday (November 1), in Anaheim CA. Blizzard is also expected to announce "Diablo 4" at the show.

The times have been rough for the Activision Blizzard juggernaut, as changing market conditions and lack of differentiated IP launches have led the company into a sort of stagnant position in the market - in both launches and revenue sources. The recent split from Destiny developer Bungie took out a bite from one of the company's additional streams of revenue amidst dwindling World of Warcraft subscriptions (after the usual spike post launch for Battle of Azeroth) and the lack of any new sources of income in the close future. This saw the company's stock valuation coming down, and was bookended by the recent layoff of some 8% total of the company's workforce (around 800 out of its 9,600 employees). Reports peg these as being mostly outside of the game development workforce, though, which could give traction to the report that the company is doubling down on IP-related development, instead of shying away from it - a sensible move, if you'll ask me.

Activision Blizzard COO Coddy Johnson reiterated Blizzard's fantastic IP reserves, and wants the company to achieve a higher cadence in content releases that follow the type of high-quality launches they achieve in their World of Warcraft expansions - but on other, more differentiated revenue sources. Johnson also reiterated more resources being put to work on the Diablo franchise, saying that "Diablo's development headcount will grow substantially", with "The teams are working on several projects for the franchise as well as the global launch of Diablo Immortal."