Alongside the imminent launch of its first expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, Blizzard has discussed the possibility of bringing Diablo III to the Xbox One. Speaking with VideoGamer, the game’s lead producer, Alex Mayberry, explained the finer details of the console development cycle.
“I don’t know where we are with Microsoft right now so I can’t really comment on what that contract looks like,” Mayberry said. “The point is we are developing for Xbox [One] and PS4 simultaneously. We hit those major platforms and then our goal as a development team is to make them run.”
While this is by no means a confirmation, the fact that the proposed Xbox One build is being developed in tandem with the PlayStation 4 version lends credence to Blizzard’s RPG appearing on Microsoft’s next-gen platform. Plus, given that the studio worked on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game concurrently, Mayberry admitted that a simultaneous release “makes more sense.”
At this time, Diablo III is planned to debut on the PS4 in the form of the Ultimate Evil Edition, which will include the full game along with the Reaper of Souls expansion. And while no firm release date has been announced, it’s understood that its release “is not far off”.
Considering that Diablo III was originally announced for PlayStation 3 first in February of last year, before releasing across PS3 and Xbox 360 on the same date, it seems safe to assume that Blizzard will employ a similar strategy for the next-gen systems, too.
In terms of the aforementioned expansion pack, Reaper of Souls is set to launch across PC and Mac tomorrow, March 25th.
