2021 won’t be the year where Blizzard-fans see the next installments in their favorite franchises. During an investors call, Activision Blizzard announced that there’s a lot in the pipeline, which is all planned for ‘2022 and beyond’. In other words, seeing a 2021 release date for either Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV is highly unlikely at this point.
Overwatch 2, Diablo IV Release date
In 2019, Blizzard announced both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV, without specifying when we could expect the games. Fans were probably hoping for a release sooner rather than later. While we still don’t have an official release date, Blizzard is particularly excited for 2022, stating (via Twinfinite):
2022 will be a great year for Blizzard. (…) We are making significant progress against our development pipeline for other key intellectual properties, which we expect to fuel further growth in 2022 and beyond.
To clarify, the employees giving the presentation did not mention any games specifically. They did however exclude Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, which basically leaves the aforementioned games. Those games are planned for 2022 and beyond, which basically excludes 2021 for the next Overwatch and Diablo.
World of Warcraft
There’s good news for World of Warcraft fans, however. Activision-Blizzard plans a bunch of new content for the iconic MMORPG. This includes “multiple mobile free-to-play Warcraft experiences”. Additionally, the American company will release “more frequent premium content” for the main game.
Whenever there’s more information on Overwatch 2 and/or Diablo IV, we’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft fans are certainly going to be pleased this year, as there’s a lot in store for them.