Blizzard says Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 won’t be here until 2023

Activision Blizzard has found itself in the spotlight after the revelation of a toxic workplace environment lawsuit in July that included sexual harassment and unequal pay for women. Now, the highly anticipated sequels Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 have been delayed until 2023.

According to a new report from Kotaku, Blizzard shared the news of the delays in an investor call earlier this week. As for the reasoning behind the delays, it seems to be a combination of things.

Blizzard has seen a sort of mass exodus from the company after the recent revelations surrounding its work environment. The company parted ways with Diablo 4 director Jesse McCree back in August as a result of the lawsuit and Overwatch 2’s executive producer left the company in September.

READ MORE: How to join the Overwatch 2 beta

Additionally, the company cited the COVID-19 pandemic as another contributing factor to the games’ delays. Just about every major game of the last year and a half has seen a delay of some sort thanks to the pandemic that forced many employees to make the shift to working from home.

READ MORE: Diablo Immortal releases a day early on Android and iOS

Combine that with the dumpster fire that’s been going on inside of Blizzard, and you have a recipe for guaranteed game delays.

Despite delays in these games, the company says it is “still planning to deliver a substantial amount of content” next year. But for fans of Diablo and Overwatch, this is definitely a bummer. However, in the case of Diablo 4, we’ve already been waiting nearly a decade for the game to come out, so if it needs one extra year to be fully polished, then so be it.

I think the real danger that Blizzard could run into with these delays is with Overwatch 2. From what we’ve seen so far, the game isn’t really changing a lot from the original. The company’s got to be careful to not make gamers wait all this time and have Overwatch 2 resemble more of a glorified DLC than an actual sequel.

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