The legal battles and constant shuffling of managerial staff at Activision Blizzard are taking a greater toll on the publisher’s output than you might think. It recently announced that some of its upcoming games have been pushed out during its Q3 earnings call.
“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,” the company announced.
If we unpack that a little, not only does it tell us that both games have had their internal roadmap pushed back but also if we dig a little further, the first part of that statement implies that Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV aren’t included with the rest of the content for 2022. So although it wasn’t said explicitly, it’s highly likely that we’re looking at a 2023 launch for these titles.
When you think about it, it does kinda make sense. Firstly, the global pandemic hasn’t had the best effect on most people’s workflow or productivity. We’re sure the ongoing lawsuit from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) hasn’t helped productivity either.
Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV lose heads
Then there’s the fact that the director of Diablo IV and the lead designer of Overwatch 2 both left the company in the wake of the aforementioned lawsuit. That couldn’t have sped things up on either project.
We didn’t have release dates for these titles from Blizzard yet but now we’ll need to wait longer. How long? Maybe 2023, maybe only after Activision Blizzard makes an effort to provide a hospitable workplace for all its employees.
Source: TechRadar