Blizzard investeert veel tijd in consoles voor DIII

Jay Wilson, Game Director van Diablo III, heeft in een interview met Game Informer gezegd dat in het geval van een consoleversie van Diablo III, deze van de grond zal worden opgebouwd. Gebruikers moeten het gevoel hebben 'that it's natively made for a console', aldus Wilson.

"We don't want to port it, we want to build it for console. There's a key difference. Certainly, a lot of things get brought over, but a port is trying to take a PC game and graft it onto a console.

"Our goal, is to make a game that feels like it's natively made made for a console. If we make it, we want it to feel like a Blizzard game and that we built it for that platform from the ground up."

Blizzard is in de tussentijd in gesprek met de grote consoleontwikkelaars, welke volgens Wilson staan te popelen om met Blizzard samen te werken.

"Everyone wants a Blizzard games on consoles happen, and [console makers] are some of the most eager. So, I'm hopeful. It's hard for me to say beyond that."

Het probleem met de consoleversie van Diablo III was het samenstellen van het team, maar na maanden van sollicitaties en job listings is het Blizzard gelukt om een "really great team" in elkaar te zetten.

"The lead designer, Joshua Mosquiera was the leader designer of Company of Heroes and a former creative director at Ubisoft with a lot of console experience. We are starting to fill the team out with new hires and some core members of the Diablo III team. Because we are close to done with the PC version, some groups finish before others, mostly the art group. We're able to ferry over some art talent to the console group."

"We are still in active exploring mode; we haven't officially announced a product. We say that because we like our product announcements to be a big deal. We haven't been as secretive about this one because our biggest barrier is actually getting a console team."

"People don't believe us when we say we're going to make a console game - flat out. I understand why they don't believe us, because we've tried this before. We've also never invested in it to the degree that we are doing now, and we've never had a product we felt was appropriate for it."

Diablo III loop op dit moment in de bètafase en staat gepland voor een release in 2012 voor Windows en OSX.