Blizzard hasn’t denied that Diablo III will be coming to consoles, but it has never made it official either. Recent job listings spotted by Gamasutra (via 1Up) are the next best thing to an official confirmation. According to 1Up’s excellent Frank Cifaldi:
According to the company’s Jobs Directory, Blizzard is currently looking to fill lead designer, lead programmer, and senior producer roles very specifically for a console version of Diablo III.
That’s brilliant news! I know that most of you are primarily console gamers, so I’m not sure if you’re familiar or interested in the Diablo franchise. Are you super psyched? Intrigued? Mildly annoyed? Will you join me online as I wield the demon hunter’s awesome powers?
This will be annoying in my opinion. I'd prefer the game not be augmented in such a way to allow controller mapping thus diminishing the keyboard and mouse. It also sucks because this could delay it! NOOOOO
You think Blizzard would delay for a simultaneous release? I’m not sure it would. It pretty much owns the enthusiast PC gaming market and is very good at serving its core.
I think it would be a push by Acti to delay it.
I believe Blizzard has enough stroke to prevent such a move.
I hope so. It would seem that Blizz is lining itself up for yearly releases though which fits the Activision method. Maybe that’s why SC2 is $60?
I can’t wait to get Diablo 3. At least I have Cataclysm to tide me over.
Come one guys, we all know it’s not gonna hit it’s first 3 release dates anyway. It’s just the way it is with this series….
Good point. Fall of 2012 it is! I just hope I can get to play it before the world ends.
-M
come on!
If I liked Diablo and really played it I'm sure I would not like it coming to a console, much how I would rather play Halo Wars on a PC. However, I am not so much a PC gamer anymore. Still this game has always looked pretty cool. They might get more people to play it if it is on a console, but like Smartguy said if they diminish the mouse and keyboard I think it (and any other PC game) would be very watered down and not up to par.
Well look, if it's a port that's configured to console controls that doesn't effect the PC version, what's it matter? More accessibility is a good thing. This increases the chances that I'll play it, cause I don't PC game. At all. My PC couldn't handle Minesweeper without crashing.
The effect it has on the overall design of the game.
The game's been in development for some time now. Clearly, they know where they want to take the PC version of the game and are exploring the idea of porting it to consoles. I know there's the tendency by PC gamers to think that everything will be ruined because (fill in the blank), but I tend to think you're more or less tilting at windmills on this one.
Nobody here said anything about it being ruined. Also, Blizzard isn't exploring anything. You do not hire people for exploration. The gameplay works on consoles, so this was an easy decision.
Blizzard has also addressed these new listings over on the Battle.net forums. Here’s the full quote:
As some of you may have seen over on the Diablo III home page, we’re currently exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles. As we’ve said in the past, with proper care the gameplay could suit the console platform, and we’re interested in seeing what talent out there might be interested in contributing to such a project.
To further reiterate what’s posted on the home page: this is not an announcement of a console title. We are first and foremost developing Diablo III for Windows and Mac PCs, and we have no intention of allowing a console interpretation to delay or otherwise affect the release of the game. As always feel free to discuss this topic here, but please note that we don’t have any further details to share at this time.
If you or someone you know would be interested in joining the Diablo team, then head over to the job posts to check out the requirements and submit an application.
You believe all of that?
Not entirely. But anything other than taking them at their word is pure conjecture.
Or applying logic. You don't hire for those positions for something that's just at the exploration stage.
Unless of course, they’re actually exploring something other than a Diablo III port and are planning a console game with the Diablo name on it (ie: a Diablo-related project).
Either way, our positions on this are the difference between definitely and probably. I’m just leaving some wiggle room based on the quote.
Since you do not game on a PC you wouldn't understand I guess. The scope, pvp balancing, difficulty, and game engine would change if the game was delayed due to a console port. That in of itself would change what Diablo is.
Game wide changes that affect PVE are changed for the sake of pvp in WoW quite often. I'd also feel the level of continuous support would not happen. This of course is if it is a simultaneous release and merged communities. I can't see the communities being separate.
I'm not a purist PC gamer, I prefer an FPS with a controller. Like I said if you aren't a PC gamer then the scope isn't a concern for you.
Or, it could be a Dragon Age: Origins type of situation where the game was made for the PC and ported to the consoles, leaving the PC release as the version to own (if you had a computer that could handle anything outside of solitaire). Since the PC version has been in development for quite some time, and Blizzard has a history of catering to the PC audience, I would expect nothing less quite honestly.
@nightshade
Dragon age is different since there is no multiplayer or community element.