Activision Blizzard has confirmed that its heavily anticipated sequels for Diablo and Overwatch will not be released this year. The news was shared by CFO and President of Emerging Businesses Dennis Durkin, who spoke during yesterday’s earnings call and assured investors that the company would continue to see positive sales over the course of the year thanks to key titles such as World of Warcraft. Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 won’t play a part in Blizzard’s financial results until 2022 at the earliest, however.
“We expect Blizzard’s net bookings to grow, given the momentum in World of Warcraft and the other growth initiatives we have in the business,” Durkin said. “Our outlook does not include Diablo IV or Overwatch 2 launching in 2021. And while Diablo Immortal is progressing well and we anticipate its launch later this year, we don’t have any material contribution from the title in our outlook presently.”
“[…] our teams are hard at work on Diablo IV, Overwatch 2 and multiple mobile titles,” noted President and COO Daniel Alegre. “We have further bolstered head count on key franchises, supporting the team’s plans to follow these ambitious titles with compelling content that sustains Blizzard’s communities over the long term. The pipeline is progressing really well and we anticipate that 2022 will be a great year for Blizzard.”
Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 were revealed during BlizzCon 2019. The former will attempt to recapture the glory of the original titles with a darker atmosphere and system changes such as a skill point system, while the latter introduces story missions and new game types/heroes/customization options.