Diablo 3 On Console: A True Blizzard Experience

Blizzard COO, Paul Sams, recently spoke to CVG where he commented on Diablo 3 on consoles, not for financial gain but rather because it “makes a lot of sense”. Sure, we believe that Activision feels that it isn’t for financial gain.

Sams said that Blizzard feels that the game will do well on other platforms, other than PC.

“We’re continuing to explore [Diablo 3 on consoles],” he said. “We think that the way we built it for the PC may need some tweaking, but it will ultimately be the type of game that can really make sense and be really fun, well polished and a true Blizzard-level experience on a console.

“We get a lot of questions about why we haven’t made a game for consoles before and I tell them the same thing I tell them about business models: we don’t let business models or platforms drive our decisions. Those are secondary to what’s the most important aspect for us which is the gameplay.”

Blizzard are planning to make sure that the game is playable, and that everyone wants to play it. Else, there’s no point in even making the game.

“We have to make sure the game is great and it’s something that everyone wants to play. If we provide a great game, a great experience, the business model – if we’re being fair with you – will work.

“Same with the console; we don’t decide up front that we want to make a console product. We just want to make a great game. If the best experience involves a mouse and a keyboard, we’ll put it on PC. If it plays better with a controller, that’s the route we’d take. If it works on both, and we don’t have to make any meaningful alterations or compromises to the experience, we’d make it for both” continued Sams.

Following all of this, Sams admitted that the requirements for each respective platform played a massive role in deciding where to take Diablo 3.

“Well, honestly, that certainly is an impactful part of the decision,” he said. “If I’ve got to jump through 17 different hoops and pay a lot more money to be on a console, that causes you to pause. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t do it if we thought we could deliver a Blizzard-quality product on the platform and it was right for the game in question.

“That’s why we’re looking at it for Diablo III; we think that we can have a really exciting and compelling experience that will play well on console in addition to PC We do feel it’s an exciting opportunity. If we feel we can have a game on multiple platforms, then we’ll do it. We’re not afraid to – that’s for sure!”

We’ve published our hands-on for Diablo 3. The initial thoughts weren’t too impressive, however with route it’s going, it will be perfect for console. It’s really watered down compared to Diablo 2 and new players, presumably the console players, will be able to hack and slash from day one. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Diablo 3 will release on 15 May, for PC.