Diablo 5 Timing: Blizzard's Rod Fergusson on Diablo 4's Longevity

Rod Fergusson, the general manager of the Diablo series, kicked off his talk at the DICE Summit 2025 by addressing not the triumphs but one of the franchise's most notorious setbacks: Error 37. This error plagued the launch of Diablo 3, leaving countless players unable to log in due to overwhelming server demand. The incident drew significant backlash and became a meme within the gaming community. Despite this, Blizzard managed to resolve the issue, and Diablo 3 eventually became a successful title after considerable effort.

However, the memory of Error 37 looms large, especially as Diablo evolves into a more sophisticated live service model with Diablo 4. The new game features frequent updates, ongoing seasons, and planned expansions, making it more complex than its predecessors. A repeat of such a launch fiasco could be disastrous for Blizzard's ambitions to keep Diablo 4 thriving as a live service juggernaut beyond its major content drops.

Diablo, Immortal

During the DICE Summit 2025 in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to speak with Fergusson following his presentation titled "Evolving Sanctuary: Building a Resilient Live-Service Game in Diablo IV." In his talk, Fergusson outlined four crucial aspects for ensuring Diablo 4's resilience: scaling the game effectively, maintaining a steady flow of content, being flexible with design purity, and keeping players informed about upcoming developments, even if it means sacrificing some surprises.

Fergusson emphasized the team's commitment to retaining players consistently over the long term. The approach to content planning and season-ahead roadmaps marks a significant shift from previous Diablo titles, which relied more on sporadic updates and expansions. This new strategy aligns Diablo with the growing trend of major AAA games adopting live service models, which allow for more sustained player engagement and frequent updates.

So, I asked Fergusson if Diablo 4 was meant to be an eternal game or, perhaps, immortal. Is there a specific point at which he would consider transitioning to Diablo 5, or is the goal to keep Diablo 4 as the definitive version indefinitely, much like Blizzard's enduring MMO, World of Warcraft?

Fergusson responded that while he doesn't envision Diablo 4 as an eternal game, he certainly hopes it will remain relevant for many years. He referenced Destiny's initial promise of a ten-year game plan, which didn't fully materialize, and stressed the importance of showing players a clear roadmap. "We want it to be around for years," he said. "I don't know if it's eternal. We want people to see the road ahead, because we know that, to play a Diablo game, you're probably putting hundreds of hours in and we want people to know that we're respecting their time and that we're not just here and gone."

Fergusson highlighted the significant time gaps between past Diablo releases—over a decade between Diablo 2 and 3, and another between Diablo 3 and 4. However, he pointed out that none of these games had the intensive update schedule planned for Diablo 4. As someone who joined Blizzard in 2020 after leading the Gears franchise, Fergusson brings a forward-thinking approach but is cautious about setting rigid timelines.

For instance, he announced during the DICE Summit that Diablo 4's second expansion, Vessel of Hatred, would not arrive until 2026. Initially planned for a yearly release, the timeline was extended when staff were reassigned to work on immediate updates and the first season. When asked if 18 months would become the standard for future expansions, Fergusson remained non-committal. "I learned my lesson about calling the shot too early," he said. "So I think giving, 'Hey, you can relax for the next 11 months,' is about as far as I want to go in this right now...We're not at a place where we want to put a stake in the ground and call it. Because we're still building it and learning from it...Our process is generally that we get internally to a place where we have the certainty to make a call, and then you get to a place where you publicly want to make that call. We're not at the public part yet."

Ruining the Surprise...on Purpose

Fergusson's cautious approach is evident in Blizzard's increased transparency about future plans. This includes revealing content roadmaps and using a Public Test Realm (PTR) where players can test upcoming patches before they go live. Initially, the team was hesitant about spoiling surprises, but Fergusson has come to see the value in transparency. "You just realize that it's better to ruin the surprise for 10,000 people so that millions of people have a great season," he stated during his talk. "And even if you mess up PTR, even if whatever you're offering to them in the mechanics is bad, I would much rather have a bad week of a PTR than a bad three months trying to recover from putting in something that we were surprising players with and it turned out to be wrong."

He elaborated on this in our conversation, noting that while data mining might spoil surprises for a small group, it's a minor issue compared to the overall player base. "You can get really spun up on it," he said. "And we've had it in the early days. We're like, 'Oh, this got data mined, people know this.' Okay, how many people saw it? And it's on this Reddit thread, and there's probably 8,000 people there. But we are going to have millions of people. So at the end of the day, it's okay. We haven't ruined the surprise for everybody."

One of the challenges Fergusson faces is expanding the PTR to console players, currently limited to PC users on Battle.net due to certification issues. However, he mentioned that Blizzard, with support from parent company Xbox, is working to overcome these challenges. Additionally, he highlighted the benefits of having Diablo 4 on Game Pass, which helps remove barriers to entry and attract more players, similar to the decision to release the game on Steam alongside Battle.net.

"One of the things that's different from when you think of a live service that's behind a pay gate, like a premium live server, which is what Diablo is, versus a free-to-play live service like Diablo Immortal is, there's an opportunity easier to grow Immortal because there's no barriers to entry, right? Whereas, buying the boxed product or buying the main game is a barrier for some. So that's what Game Pass gets rid of, that barrier. You have this opportunity where you can see new Game Pass players coming in all the time, because they're just like, 'Oh, I just got Game Pass. Oh, cool, that's in there?' And off they go. So it is interesting in terms of sustaining continued new players."

All Hours Diablo

As our conversation drew to a close, I inquired about Fergusson's recent gaming habits to understand what inspires him. When asked about Path of Exile 2 and comparisons to Diablo 4, Fergusson emphasized their differences but acknowledged the need to consider fans of both games when planning updates. "A lot of people actually tell us, 'do what you're going to do, but just do us a favor and don't line up your seasons over top of each other. Let me play one season for three weeks and let me play another season for three weeks. Don't make me have to pick and choose.' So I get that. As a person who plays lots of games, I totally understand that."

Fergusson shared his top three games of 2024 by playtime: NHL 24 in third place, Destiny 2 in second, and, unsurprisingly, Diablo 4 in first. With 650 hours logged on his personal account (excluding work time), Fergusson's dedication to Diablo is evident. He mentioned currently playing Companion Druid and recently starting a Dance of Knives Rogue. "It's something about the habit of the game," he explained. "I get interrupted from- I'm halfway through Cyberpunk, I'm halfway through Witcher 3, I'm halfway through Space Marines 2000. I get to these points where I am into a non-service game, then I get distracted by something shiny. But I have this habit of, I got to go do my daily in NHL to go open my free pack of cards, and I have to go play with my brother in Destiny 2 because this is what the game we play together on. And then I just...The reason I came to Diablo five years ago was because it was my favorite game to play. So just because I work and I work doesn't stop me from going home and playing it for hours and hours too."