Console

Blizzard is officially "exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles."[1] This is not the same thing as committing to make a console version of Diablo III, but that's clearly their ultimate goal.

They have hired several new employees for their Diablo console project, and as of January 2011 have Diablo III job openings listed for a Console Lead Designer, Console Lead Programmer and Console Senior Producer. As there are no art or writing jobs for the console team, it seems that they plan to adapt existing Diablo III material to the console, and need employees to manage that process, rather than creating new content from scratch for a console project.

Since news breaks on this issue regularly, you may find this link valuable.

• Console rumors in Diablo 3 news.

Diablo Console Project Announcement

After years of hints, Blizzard finally acknowledged that they were starting work on a Diablo 3 console game in October 2010, via a forum post by Bashiok, the Diablo III community manager:[2]

As some of you may have seen over on the Diablo III home page, we’re currently exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles. As we’ve said in the past, with proper care the gameplay could suit the console platform, and we’re interested in seeing what talent out there might be interested in contributing to such a project.

To further reiterate what’s posted on the home page: this is not an announcement of a console title. We are first and foremost developing Diablo III for Windows and Mac PCs, and we have no intention of allowing a console interpretation to delay or otherwise affect the release of the game. As always feel free to discuss this topic here, but please note that we don’t have any further details to share at this time.

If you or someone you know would be interested in joining the Diablo team, then head over to the job posts to check out the requirements and submit an application.

Diablo III Console Comments

Jay Wilson to Shacknews, October 2008.[3]

Diablo 3 director Jay Wilson also chimed in on the oft-speculated topic, noting that the game's control scheme would work rather well on consoles.

If we did it, we would want to do a really high quality version--we wouldn't just want to do a port," Wilson said. "We would never make that decision if we thought we had to compromise the overall quality...we could probably do it at any time, we could release the game and then decide we wanted to do a 360 version or a PS3 version. We haven't really decided to take the [console] plunge," he continued "We've really come to the conclusion that it's probably the best fit because the control scheme is actually not that incompatible. So if we were to make that decision, Diablo would be the natural choice.

Jay Wilson to Play.tm, November 2008: [4]

We don't have any console plans right now. I would say that of all our games... well, Blizzard doesn't view itself as just a PC developer, we think we're a games developer. So if we thought a game was more appropriate for consoles we'd make it, its just that most of the games we've made so far feel better on the PC. However, Diablo is maybe the one exception. I think the control scheme would translate really well to a console, erm, there are many elements that would be easy to pull over... that could work well with direct control. There's not a lot of buttons, so you could fit them on a controller pretty easily. There are some targeting issues that could be troublesome, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. But, we're also used to developing for the PC, so right now we're completely focused on that.

Jay Wilson to GamingShogun, August 2009.[5]

</blue>We haven't made a decision whether we do a console version or not... We like console games, we play tons of console games - we're gamers across the board, not just PC gamers. The fact that all of our games are PC-oriented is more about the kind of games we make rather than the fact that we consider ourselves a PC game-developer. A Diablo game would probably convert to a console better than our other games. But the task of developing Diablo III is such a monumental one that making it cross-platform as well is not a high-priority for us.</blue>

Jason Bender and Christian Lichtner in an interview from Blizzcon, October 2010:[6]

Jason Bender: I think [Diablo 3] is suited to consoles. We’re definitely working, obviously, on the PC version. This is something that’s been brought up a lot about Diablo. It’s sort of an ongoing question. And I’m sure we would all love to play it on console, but right now, we’re just focused on what we’ve got in front of us. Who knows what the future holds? It’s hard to say.
Christian Lichtner: We have said in the past that Diablo’s one of the games that really would translate [to consoles] well.

Past Blizzard Console Titles

Blizzard Entertainment started out small, churning out console ports for various long-forgotten games in the early 1990s. They eventually made two original console titles, The Lost Vikings and Rock and Roll Racing, before turning to larger original computer games, starting with Warcraft and Warcraft II. You can see a full listing of their early games on the Wikipedia page.

Their next console effort was Starcraft: Ghost, which was produced by independent game studios working in conjunction with Blizzard. The game lingered through several development cycles before finally going into indefinite delay in August, 2005.

Blizzard has announced no console plans since that point, though they've spoken frequently about their interest in returning to their console gaming roots, either with a port of one of their other titles or an original game, like Starcraft: Ghost.

"...we're a company of gamers. I have two consoles at home. Sam has consoles. We're a culture of gamers. We will definitely work on a console game at some point. I have no doubt about that. It's just [a matter of] what game. What makes the most sense?"

J. Allen Brack, production director for World of Warcraft [7]

As always with Blizzard, they are unlikely to announce anything until the project is well underway, but from their frequent comments on the issue it seems very likely that they've got something in the works.