Diablo IV is now available worldwide. For a few hours now, the new installment of this emblematic series of role-playing and action games has been rampant on both PC and console and, to the delight of the American Blizzard and its millions of fans, it seems that the launch is taking place. without too many problems.
That the fourth Diablo, the first to appear simultaneously on PC and consoles, has received unanimous acclaim from critics is almost as important as the fact that it’s only been on sale for a few hours and no controversy has yet arisen around it. And it is that, despite being one of the great sagas of the world of electronic entertainment, its latest iterations have always been accompanied by some controversy.
Many still remember the commotion that arose in May 2012, when Diablo III went on sale with a requirement that at that time was not yet common: to play it, it was necessary to be permanently connected to the internet –even if you only wanted to venture alone– .
This requirement exasperated users with countless connection problems and endless queues during the first days, but it was not the only controversy in the game. The inclusion of an auction house that allowed users to buy and sell game items with real money or in-game currency – and which Blizzard later ended up closing – was a bitter foretaste of what we have known years later with the rise of the NFTs.
Diablo III had a questionable premiere, but more controversial was that of Diablo Immortal. The first installment of the saga for mobile devices was beaten by a large part of its fans from the moment it was announced during Blizzcon in 2018. The leap of the franchise to the Free-to-Play model and the absurd virtual economy that the game exhibited during its publication, now just a year ago, also marred its output.
As Axios journalist Stephen Totilo points out, for the past decade, Activision Blizzard has used the Diablo series to test new business models. Some of these ideas, such as the permanent connection to the Internet, have ended up becoming a standard, but others – especially those related to monetization – are still difficult to be accepted by the community of fans of the franchise.
Unlike the latest installments, Diablo IV is having a much smoother launch. Although the game officially goes on sale today, those people who had gotten hold of the more expensive editions have enjoyed early access for four days.
During this past weekend some errors of unexpected closures and crashes have been reported –which Blizzard has already explained how to solve–, as well as a license error that has affected some users of the PlayStation 5 version –and which the company affirms have fixed- Without going any further, a server suffered a strange crash yesterday while playing on this console, but when I restarted the game everything was where it should be.
That Diablo IV turned out well is almost like a miracle. Let’s remember that the game was announced in 2019 and it could already be played then, so its development has been long. During this time it has also coincided with the pandemic, something that has wreaked havoc on many large studies. However, it seems little compared to the controversy that has surrounded the company in the last two years.
In the summer of 2021, Activision Blizzard was charged with numerous instances of sexual harassment, discrimination towards its workers, and toxic culture within the company after an extensive investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). One of the lawsuits was settled with an agreement whereby Activision Blizzard agreed to pay $18 million to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and another for $35 million to the Exchange Commission. and Securities (SEC), although the trial by the state of California itself is still pending.
As if all this were not enough, since the beginning of last year Activision Blizzard has been leading the news in the sector after Microsoft announced its intention to buy the company for 68.7 billion dollars, an operation –the largest in the history of entertainment– that it is not yet closed due to opposition from various competition regulatory bodies. Although it may seem that it is an issue unrelated to game development, it is clear that the launch of Diablo IV would have been very different if Microsoft were the owner of the company today. To begin with, because perhaps it could be a game available on Game Pass.
That Diablo IV has gone on sale in the midst of all this context is an event. It is noticeable that the development team wanted to play it safe with the aim of creating a sequel that is close to the experience offered by the first two installments of the franchise. It returns to the dark fantasy of the origins, but also innovates with a much larger open world. The result is a very good game that will appeal to both franchise veterans and those venturing into Sanctuary for the first time.
