The release date for Blizzard Entertainment’s next entry in the Diablo series has been confirmed for June 6 of next year following a presentation at The Game Awards. A first-peek trailer for Diablo 4 depicts a large-scale battle between humans and demons, featuring a well-functioning phalanx wall.
The game is scheduled to arrive on June 6 of next year for current and last-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. A day prior to The Game Awards, the release date for Diablo 4 had been close-to-correctly predicted via a leak posted on Twitter by the account @ALumia_Italia, which had it coming out a day prior, on June 5. Additionally, the leaker had reported the game’s file size of 80 GB for Xbox consoles and that the game will be available in three editions — standard, Digital Deluxe, and Ultimate, although all of that’s unconfirmed. Prior to the leak, other media outlets had claimed the game would arrive in April.
But when it comes to getting information directly from the source, this is the first major piece of news to come directly from Blizzard Entertainment since information covering the endgame content and the new necromancer class was revealed at the Microsoft and Bethesda Showcase back in June.
The announcement at The Game Awards came as little surprise thanks in part to a social media posting two days ago on Diablo’s official Twitter page, which simply stated “Be Warned. #LilithIsComing” and included a short video of red robed figures slowly assembling, then turning towards the viewer while an ominous tone drones on. Additionally, industry insiders have been predicting the timing of the December 8 announcement for weeks, including a claim from late November that preordering the game would grant purchasers access to its beta period. That preduction also turned out to be true, as the end of the trailer revealed.
The game has already been in a closed beta period, and some users have, as is the norm in the modern age, broken their nondisclosure agreements back in October to reportedly leak footage of the game.
In addition to the trailer reveal, the awards show also included a musical performance by singer Halsey, decked out in an all black dominatrix-style outfit with dripping black eye makeup, posed against a storm red background that, at one point, bore an image of Diablo 4 antagonist Lilith. The Game Awards founder and host Geoff Keighley said this is just the start of the collaboration between Diablo and Halsey, and we should ecpect more next year.
