Diablo 4 Will Get No More Expansions as Blizzard Tells Story Through Seasons, Director Calls It 'Liberating'
Blizzard will end Diablo 4 expansions and continue the game's story through seasons, game director Brent Gibson says, while promising support will continue long after Diablo 5's 2029 launch.
Gibson told TechRadar Gaming in an interview at the event that the change is "liberating." "So we completed the story, but the butterfly effect can take us anywhere, you know?" he said. "And we've got season 15 with all the events of pandemonium leading to someone else taking the mantle of death." He declined to say who that would be. "Who is it? I'm not going to answer that today," he said.
He added that the approach "allows us to be really creative with all the pieces that we have, now that we hit the beat that we were all looking forward to with confronting Mephisto. So, I say it's liberating."
No additional expansions are planned at the moment. The Lord of Hatred expansion concluded the game's overarching narrative, and the team will use seasons to carry the story forward, presumably until Diablo 5 is ready for launch. Diablo 3 was likewise supported for years after its release.
Season of Hell's Legacy, the game's 15th season, launched on September 15 and is the centerpiece of Blizzard's 30th anniversary celebration for the Diablo franchise. Its questline description says the lost soul of the legendary Horadrim Deckard Cain returns with dire news amid the dead rising from Pandemonium. Three dark wanderers have returned, each leaving a trail of death, and players must confront them and delve into the nightmares of their past to defeat the Prime Evils tormenting them.
Amid the Diablo 5 announcement, Gibson also sought to reassure players about Diablo 4 support. "If you're wearing the sign in the middle of Times Square that says 'The End is Nigh', the end is not nigh," he said. "We have a lot coming," he added, pointing to an Amazon class pack due in Diablo 4 in 2027.
"The train isn't stopping," Gibson said. "One of the things that I love about our world is we're not a series of games. We are a universe. We are even adding to Diablo 2 with that of the Warlock." He said the franchise has multiple communities, and that fans worried about the game's future should not "sweat it" because "we're going to be making content for a long time," with more projects including a Netflix adaptation.
"Hold on tight. Gone are the years of waiting 10 years for more content, right? So it's a great place to be at," he said.
Diablo 5 is slated to launch in 2029. BlizzCon 2026 has officially wrapped.