Diablo 4 was the first mainline entry in the franchise to focus heavily on multiplayer by going with an MMO-styled game design philosophy that allowed players to meet others while roaming around the world. When it comes to Diablo 5, however, the company hasn’t yet revealed whether this MMO-styled direction is here to stay for the franchise or if the development team is looking at other game design styles. In an interview with PC Gamer, senior game director Joe Shely noted that players will continue to have the option to take on challenges either by themselves or alongside friends.
“Like Diablo 4, it is a game that you can play solo or multiplayer, however you please, and you should be able to play all of the content with your friends.”
As for whether we’d end up meeting other players during the course of general play, however, Blizzard has said that details like this will be revealed as we get closer to the upcoming title’s 2029 release. However, the company has confirmed that the overworld will return to being procedurally-generated, in contrast with Diablo 4’s fixed overworld. The title’s general tone, which has been described as focusing on how players are traveling across the world of Sanctuary to cleanse corruption with a caravan, might also indicate a more solo-oriented approach, at least with the core story.
Without revealing too many details, Blizzard has acknowledged that the team will carry forward many aspects from Diablo 4. To what extent things like the inclusion of cosmetic items that can be bought for real money remains to be seen, however. Similarly, there has also been no confirmation about whether other MMO-like aspects of Diablo 4, like world events, will return.
During its announcement, Blizzard also confirmed that Diablo 5 won’t have towns and villages as we saw in Diablo 4. This means that, if the game were to include MMO elements, the lack of these towns to act as fast travel points and player hubs would be noticeable by their absence.
Diablo 5 was officially unveiled during BlizzCon 2026 over the weekend. The loot-based action RPG is slated to push the story forward quite a bit, throwing players into a world where the eponymous Diablo – the Lord of Terror – has already accomplished his goal. This means that the campaign will revolve around players roaming through the world and getting their hands on different kinds of powers. The narrative will also likely involve aspects like forcing players to confront the question of how much of a demon they are willing to become to fight the forces he Hell.
In the meantime, Blizzard is continuing to support Diablo 4 with its seasonal model, with the next season – dubbed Season of Hell’s Legacy – being kicked off on September 15th. The season will celebrate the Diablo franchise’s 30th anniversary and will have players visiting many zones from past games through the Waking Nightmares system. The season will also include features like the return of the Rebirth system and changes to crafting. The story itself will be a continuation of where Season of Death’s Awakening left off.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The title is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on September 15th.
