Overwatch 2 And Diablo 4 Delayed Into 2023

Blizzard's big upcoming sequels still aren't ready

Activision Blizzard announced during an investor call today that Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 won’t be arriving as soon as originally planned, but didn’t provide a new timeframe for when the two big sequels will eventually come out.

“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 said. The delays were blamed on changes in leadership both at Blizzard and on the game development teams. Diablo 4 lost its director and lead designer over the summer, while Overwatch 2 lost its executive producer in September.

“It has become apparent that some of the the Blizzard content planned for next year will benefit from more development time to reach its full potential,” Activision Blizzard said.

Both Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 were revealed back in 2019 and expected to be coming in the near future, despite neither having firm release dates. In addition to the management shakeups at Blizzard following a California lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination, the delays also come after the covid-19 pandemic caused production issues across the video game industry as teams shifted to working from home.

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