Blizzard Talking Diablo III for Consoles
Diablo III may actually hit the consoles although Blizzard has a few obstacles to face.
Diablo III on the current generation of consoles is not impossible: Blizzard managed to port the original Diablo title over to Sony's first-generation PlayStation despite the lack of mouse and keyboard support. When Blizzard revealed Diablo III during BlizzCon 2008, Rob Pardo said that a console version was "theoretically possible." Jay Wilson, on the other hand, said that Blizzard doesn't have any plans to Diablo III to make an appearance on the consoles.
So with that said, GameTrailers TV editor Geoff Keighley is now reporting that console versions are back on the table... if they ever left at all. "[They] are currently talking to the first parties," he said.
But last year Blizzard COO Paul Sams pointed out that there's a compromise when developing for multiple platforms, and Blizzard isn't in the mood to compromise, even on a good day. "We have relationships with all the console manufacturers," he told CVG. "I know they would love to have us on their platforms, ideally on their own and not their competitor! But it's all about the game experience."
Additionally, Sams also said that he wanted to keep the Diablo III audience together. Blizzard's Greg Canessa touched on this subject in an interview with Shacknews during BlizzCon 2009, saying that there's potential for Diablo III on the consoles, but currently the game is designed around Battle.net and the features Blizzard's service will provide.
"What we do in the future, I obviously don't have anything to talk about with regard to Blizzard porting consoles or not in the future," he told Shack. "I can tell you that philosophically, the company is interested in consoles. Many of us are console gamers. We all have Xbox Live gamertags, and we all play Xbox at home, and so we love Xbox. And we love Sony and other platforms as well. We have a great deal of respect for them."
Ultimately, Blizzard will need to construct a way for Diablo III to access Battle.net via Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, and possibly Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. The outlook for console version certainly looks positive. Here's hoping that Keighley's insider information is correct.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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jerreece Please no. Consoles always ruin PC Games. Historically PC game titles, should stay just that. PC Game Titles.Reply
Companies need to stop dumbing down their games to run on consoles. -
dkcrogue Hmm, Judging by the comment "Many of us are console gamers. We all have Xbox Live gamertags, and we all play Xbox at home, and so we love Xbox. And we love Sony and other platforms as well." Seems too me they favour the Xbox 360 over the others, making me wonder if it will only come too that console.Reply
If you think about it that would make sense, as the 360 is far easier to port too from PC, than the overly complex, highly multithreaded PS3. And forget the Wii, far too underpowered. -
dkcrogue This is Blizzard, there is no way they are going to release a game on a console if it sucks.Reply -
ckthecerealkiller dkcrogueThis is Blizzard, there is no way they are going to release a game on a console if it sucks.I guess you never played Diablo on the PS1...Reply -
Blizzard reps hinted that there will be no split screen multiplayer unless you give Blizzard your left arm. Then they chuckle as you attempt to play with one hand.Reply
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cracklint Blizzard is all about the benjamin's, they will whore their mediocre ports out to any platform if will make them a quick buck.Reply