During today’s financial conference call for investors and analysts, Activision Blizzard executives announced delays for Diablo IV and Overwatch 2.
While the writing was pretty much on the wall, today we hear the official word that both games have been delayed, while no information has been mentioned on how long the delay will be for either game. The wording of the announcement definitely appears to indicate that they will both launch after 2022.
We hear that Activision has worked with new leaders at Blizzard and within the franchises themselves, including developers in key creative roles, and it has become apparent that the games planned for 2022 will benefit from more development time to reach their full potential.
While the development teams have made “great strides” toward the completion of the games, Activision believes that giving them extra time to complete production and continue growing their creative resources to support them after launch, will ensure that they will “delight and engage their communities for many years in the future.”
On the other hand, Diablo Immortal remains on track to release in the first half of 2022.
Activision also mentioned that the delays will push out the financial gains expected for next year, but the publisher is confident that this is the right decision for developers, players, and the long-term success of the franchises.
Diablo IV was announced back in 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Overwatch 2 is coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch and we recently saw new assets. It’s worth mentioning that the delays are on internal release expectations, since neither game ever received a release date announcement before.
If you’re interested in reading more about Activision Blizzard’s financial results published earlier today, you can check out our dedicated article.
