Blizzard is undeniably one of the best and most successful developers of PC games, with huge franchises like World or Warcraft and StarCraft. Gamers that play exclusively on consoles are missing out on Blizzard’s magic…but that will change one day. In an interview with Gamasutra, two company directors explained why Blizzard focuses on PC games and promised that it will eventually return to console gaming. Senior director Samwise Didier said:
We’re working on PC because it’s familiar to us and it’s relatively easy and it’s not changing formats every other year and there aren’t three different versions. Console, we have to worry about [those things].
The promise to return to consoles was made by production director J. Allen Brack, who said:
We just want to make the right game for the right platform. We’re a culture of gamers. We will definitely work on a console game at some point. I have no doubt about that. It’s just [a matter of] what game. What makes the most sense?
Few developers hit Blizzard’s level of polish and I’d love to see what the company can do on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Gamers were teased by StarCraft Ghost, but that game wasn’t up to snuff and was eventually cancelled. Whether it’s a console-specific MMO, an action game, or an RPG, I’m sure Blizzard would serve up console gold.
What kind of console game would you like to see from Blizzard?
I really think Diablo 3 will be on consoles. Here's why:
1. The screenshots seem to show an action bar that has 4 buttons on it. Those four buttons are easily mapped to all 4 shoulder buttons on either the 360 or PS3 controller.
2. Activision wants to dabble with a subscription based IP for the console market. This is a good chance since it will still sell extremely well on the PC.
3. I think the game is best setup of any of their known IPs to make the leap to consoles.
At the end of the day though…if the communities are segregated between PS3, 360 and PC the game will fail on the console platform. Users on any of the systems should have a battle.net portal on their console of choice in order to play with every member of the Diablo community.
Just my 2 cents though.
No. Diablo on console will probably never happen again. Not in the current format anyways.
I could see a Diablo spin-off (similar in format to Oblivion/Fallout 3) console series being immensely popular though, if done properly (meaning NOT like Hellgate:London).
Now would certainly be a good time to start considering the idea too, what with Darksiders, Dante's Inferno, God Of War III and Diablo III paving the way for Apocalyptic/Hellbound gaming.
Not to mention Supernatural is in the midst of the Apocalypse, the whole hype about 2012 being the End Times, the general love of the zombie Apocalypse….etc
Diablo could work on consoles. Probably out of all of them, it would be the one that is most prime to go there. I was looking forward to StarCraft Ghost however long ago it was coming out pre-cancelation. If any ccompany can do anything, it's Blizz. I wouldn't expect it anytime soon though.
@Leyke
Why would it not work in the new format that D3 is in? Seems primed for the jump.
Because they already tried this (not new) format.