The Canceled Diablo III Had Striking Similarities with Diablo IV

The creator of the Diablo series and former president of Blizzard North, David Brevik, has recently shed light on the vision Blizzard North had for Diablo III. Surprisingly, his insights reveal striking resemblances to the eventual direction taken by Diablo IV.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Brevik shared that the original concept for Diablo III involved combining elements of both an RPG and an MMO. The team aimed to develop a dynamic world where thousands of players could coexist simultaneously.

In this world, players would face each other and observe fellow adventurers engaged in various activities and had the option to join forces and cooperate, or pursue their own individual paths. 

"It was going to be a cross between an RPG and an MMO, so it would still have an ARPG perspective but in a massively multiplayer setting," Brevik said.

"We wanted it to feel more like a real world than a place that you would visit. You would see other people and other adventurers doing things, and you could team up and work together, or go your separate ways. The premise was having thousands of other players in the same world as you, making it more of a place."

Recently released Diablo IV has clear similarities to what its predecessor could have become. Blizzard's latest dark action RPG also combines dungeon crawling with MMO elements like public clans, server-wide bosses, and a shared world where player encounters are frequent. 

However, according to Brevik, this version of Diablo III simply "wasn't meant to be." Approximately two years into its development, the game faced significant obstacles due to corporate issues. 

Blizzard's former parent company, Vivendi, had been aggressively acquiring assets in the telecoms, media, and entertainment sectors with minimal success. By 2002, Vivendi was compelled to restructure its assets to avoid bankruptcy, and a year later, it reported the largest corporate loss in French history, repeating the same outcome for the second consecutive year.

Within Blizzard, concerns about the studio's future were growing especially considering the fallout from a previous corporate crisis that had impacted Brevik and other key figures. Some years earlier, Blizzard's then-parent company, Cendant, was at the center of a huge accounting scandal involving false revenue inflation. This caused the company's value to plummet, leading to a substantial decrease in stock compensation for Brevik and others. 

With Vivendi heading down a similar path, uncertainty loomed within the studio. "We're like, shit, here we go again; these guys above us are crooks – again," Brevik recalled.

When discussions about potentially selling Blizzard to alleviate Vivendi's financial struggle began, Brevik and other senior members of the studio hoped to participate in those talks. However, as negotiations with executives fell apart and attempts to reach agreements on compensation packages failed, the future of Blizzard North appeared bleak.

"As the sale became imminent, it was like, we just can't be part of this," Brevik explained. "We've got to take ourselves out of this situation."  

In 2003, with Diablo III left unfinished, Brevik and other Blizzard North veterans departed from the studio to establish Flagship Studios. Further employee resignations occurred in the subsequent months. Two years later, Vivendi announced the complete closure of Blizzard North. 

Brevik, however, said he has no regrets about the outcome, stating that he is happy with the decisions he made. He also noted that the team was "really excited about doing" Diablo III and that he thinks it would have been a great game.

You can learn more by reading the full interview here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more. 

Preview Image by Oscar Cuesta