Blizzard put to the test with the launch of “Diablo 2: Resurrected”

Yesterday marked the launch of Blizzard’s Diablo 2: Resurrected, a remaster of one of its all-time classics, and a throwback to a time when the company was not embroiled in a total mess of scandals.

Activision Blizzard is currently under investigation by a multitude of agencies, most recently the SEC, for issues of workplace harassment and discrimination, especially against women, and many complaints are coming from Blizzard. himself, who began to “clean up” the remaining employees, either accused of bad behavior themselves, or leaving him unpunished.

And yet Activision Blizzard is still a company trying to produce video games, and Diablo 2: Resurrected is the first major release after ongoing prosecutions and investigations unfold. This raised questions about how the game should be covered in the press, or if it should be bought by fans, many of whom are no longer comfortable giving their money to Blizzard.

This particular remaster was made primarily by Vicarious Visions, and not by Blizzard proper, where Vicarious Visions was not included in these harassment allegations. As such, some may make an exception to it, while others will not. Blizzard’s fate likely hinges on its next two truly major titles, Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, both of which have lost their leadership as a result of it all and have no release dates.

Diablo 2: Resurrected had a pretty low-profile launch campaign, and even behind the scenes PR had the awkward job of giving us our usual first looks and access to the game, while simultaneously saying that they understand if we choose not to. not cover it.

The game itself launched with some traditional Diablo server issues including connection issues and missing characters. This is a very, very faithful take on the original, at times misguided, and I’ll have some thoughts on the actual gameplay of this one soon, as I was only able to play for a short time yesterday due to all the technical problems.

I guess Diablo 2: Resurrected is doing pretty well, despite all the current controversies, but the most important test will be Overwatch 2. Diablo 4 seems very, very unstable at the moment, already years before losing its game director, and now it’s unclear who’s running the ship there.

Times are tough at Blizzard, but the company as a whole is reaping the whirlwind of the past two decades or so, and we’ll see if it does.

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