A Diablo 3 expansion is in the works, Blizzard has confirmed.
During an investor call last night, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime revealed that an expansion for the 10 million-selling action role-playing game is in the pipeline, but he didn’t provide a release date.
“So we do have a plan,” he said. “An expansion planned for Diablo. I don’t have any timeline to talk about. I think that the most important thing for us always comes down to the quality of the expansion and the gameplay, and so that will be a big factor in terms of driving our schedule.”
Two years ago, Blizzard’s release schedule leaked onto the internet. It detailed a Q2 2013 release window for Diablo 3 X1 and a Q4 2014 release window for Diablo 3 X2. However, it’s important to note that this graph may be outdated (it was accurate as of 2nd April 2010). If Blizzard sticks to this schedule, the first Diablo 3 expansion will likely arrive approximately one year after the main game was launched.
Blizzard’s release schedule, as of 2nd April 2010.
Meanwhile, Morhaime briefly touched on Blizzard All-Stars, the company’s in-development MOBA game.
Not much has been heard about it since its announcement, aside from some high-profile back-and-forth between Blizzard and Valve regarding the use of the Dota name (both parties resolved their differences, with Valve retaining ownership of the term).
“Blizzard All-Stars is in development, and we’re doing some great work,” Morhaime said.
“Some internal testing is underway. We’re doing a lot of things to experiment with game play, and I don’t really have anything specific to announce at this call, other than we’re very excited about the game.”
As reported last night, StarCraft 2 expansion Heart of the Swarm won’t be released until the first half of 2013.
In other news, Blizzard confirmed that BlizzCon, the company’s massive fan convention, will return next year after skipping 2012.
