During Activision Blizzard’s third-quarter earnings call, the publisher announced that Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 will now launch later than expected.
“As we have worked with new leadership in Blizzard and within the franchises themselves, particularly in certain key creative roles, it has become apparent that some of the Blizzard content planned for next year will benefit from more development time to reach its full potential,” a Blizzard executive said during the call.
Activision Blizzard mentioned “higher voluntary turnover” and “the departure of a number of individuals across the company” as factors contributing to this new delay.
Blizzard Entertainment suffered a large number of firings and high-profile departures, including Diablo IV game director Luis Barriga, after news broke of the company’s multiple lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, assault, discrimination, and unfair labor practices. Overwatch 2 also lost its director Jeff Kaplan right before the lawsuits were publicized. These departures have apparently affected Blizzard’s ability to develop and release these highly anticipated games.
While neither Diablo IV nor Overwatch 2 had concrete release dates, the company strongly hinted at a 2022 release window. Now it seems both games will likely not release until 2023.
“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,” Activision Blizzard said on the call.
