'Overwatch 2' and 'Diablo 4' May Be Revealed at Blizzcon, Analyst Says

Blizzard could soon announce new installments of two of its most iconic games: the team-based shooter Overwatch and its dungeon crawler Diablo. The latest updates on the highly anticipated sequels come after a June report revealed the company had canceled development on a StarCraft first-person shooter in favor of bringing Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 to market.

Blizzard has yet to confirm either of these reported titles, but they could be unveiled on November 1 at BlizzCon 2019. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Matthew Thornton told financial news publisher Barron’s on August 30 that he’s confident Blizzard will tease Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 at its yearly gaming conference in Anaheim, California.

“There is a lot in the pipeline coming off a rebased 2019 year—including some very big intellectual property in the next couple years,” he said referring to the unconfirmed titles.

This estimate lines up with the original Kotaku that stated the games would be Blizzard’s “marquee announcements” at BlizzCon 2019. Both games are getting complete overhauls compared to their previous releases, according to multiple Blizzard employees interviewed by Kotaku.

Overwatch 2 will reportedly come with a “large PvE” element as opposed to the current game, which is heavily focused on six-versus-six online player matches, while Diablo 4 will be developed in the image of Diablo II.

“They want to make this gross, make it dark, [get rid of] anything that was considered cartoony in Diablo III,” said one member of Blizzard’s staff.

Both titles are still early in their development stages. Overwatch 2 has yet to even receive a speculative release date, while Diablo fans should expect the fourth installment no earlier than 2020.

Blizzard will be looking to boost its monthly players base, which appears to have stagnated over the past few months. Activision-Blizzard does not report active users for individual titles, but the company reported its games brought in 32 million monthly active users throughout the first half of 2019 during an August earnings call.

Follow-ups to two of Blizzard’s most popular games could be the catalyst it needs. BlizzCon 2019 might be the beginning of a new era for the company.

Blizzcon 2019 begins November 1 and will last until November 3.