Blizzard Hasn't Given Up on Diablo 3 for Consoles

Blizzard is still "experimenting" with consoles although we're betting the studio is getting the popular game ready as a next-generation launch title.

Talk about Diablo 3 possibly heading to consoles has been around since before the game hit the PC and Mac earlier this year. Blizzard also really hasn't kept it a secret, saying that the company is experimenting with the idea as it hires on extra help to explore the option. Blizzard is still not officially ready to talk about the project, but the latest report claims the popular action-RPG is up and running on unspecified consoles.

"We're still kind of exploring it," Blizzard executive Rob Pardo told Polygon. "We've got builds up and running on it. We're hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we're not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it's looking pretty cool."

Diablo 3 lead designer Jay Wilson added to the tease, saying that the team is still exploring the console options while also expanding and adding onto the game, indicating that they are also likely working on an expansion pack for the PC and Mac version as hinted by Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime back in November.

"The whole team is essentially working on the next big Diablo thing," Wilson said. "A lot of that stuff will show up next year at some point."

Could Diablo 3 be heading to the Xbox Infinity and PlayStation 4? There's a definite possibility, especially in the case of Microsoft's next Windows 8-friendly console which is slated for a 3Q/4Q 2013 release. A console version of Diablo 3 – with the unannounced expansion pack already intact – would be an excellent launch title, but how the game would interact with both Xbox Live and Battle.net is still up in the air.

In addition to the console talk, Jay Wislon said that patch v1.05 for Diablo 3 was by far the best received update yet. "When it came out, we saw a big uptick in the number of people playing but mainly we just got really good feedback from the community and that's what we always look for," Wilson said.

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