Blizzard: Diablo 3 Console Release Isn't Confirmed

Earlier this week a Blizzard community manager seemed to confirm that Diablo III would be released on consoles. However, today the company walked back the remarks, saying that nothing is definite yet.

Community manager Bashiok was asked the following question on Twitter this weekend: "Can you confirm or deny Diablo 3 coming to consoles?" He replied, "Yup. Josh Mosqueira is lead designer for the Diablo console project." There's not a lot of ambiguity there but Blizzard says there was a misunderstanding.

"Bashiok's response on Twitter was intended as a confirmation that we're actively exploring the possibility of developing a console version of Diablo 3, as we've mentioned in the past," reads Blizzard's statement on the matter. "This is not a confirmation that Diablo 3 is coming to any console platform."

"Our focus right now is on finishing the PC/Mac version of Diablo 3 and making sure it's a worthwhile successor to the Diablo series."

Bashiok himself sounded a similar note on Twitter: "Yup wasn't meant to be an announcement. We're still exploring a console version, but more importantly working on the PC/Mac version."

We're left where we started. Blizzard has admitted that there's a team at the company testing the possibility of a console Diablo but they won't say that they're actually working on a console Diablo. Argh.

Their position makes sense if you recall how cautiously they handle release dates. Diablo III is probably mere weeks away from being released on the PC and they still haven't provided a date. Furthermore, here's what they said back in 2009 when people were badgering them for a StarCraft II release date: "Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time. Putting those out there would be pretty close to lying to the fans. We are not going to do that. We want to be able to give good info, not info that we know is suspect. We'll give target dates when we think it is very likely that we will hit them."

Apply that logic to this scenario. It's possible that Blizzard isn't certain they'll actually make a Diablo III for consoles. Or maybe they have and they simply haven't ironed out all the important specifics, like the platforms or the release window. Either way, it seems they don't want to make an announcement that isn't concrete.