Activision Blizzard showed the long-awaited Diablo 4 to its French employees. The creator recently laid off many employees. The French media reports the situation but as a side note, they mention Diablo 4.

According to French news publication Le Monde, Blizzard shown Diablo 4 in Paris. The article is behind a pay-wall but we managed to get an excerpt from Le Monde (translated by Google).

Excerpt from Le Monde:

Quid de l’avenir ? Les équipes de Blizzard Entertainment ont déjà eu le droit à une présentation du très attendu Diablo 4 et savent qu’un nouveau Overwatch est dans les tuyaux. Mais aucun ne sortira avant 2020, au mieux, et les salariés de Versailles ignorent s’ils en verront la couleur. « Activision Blizzard fera moins de bénéfices, mais fera quand même beaucoup de bénéfices », veut croire un vétéran.

Rough translation:

What about the future? The Blizzard Entertainment teams have already had the right to a presentation of the highly anticipated Diablo 4 and know that a new Overwatch is in the pipes. But none will come out before 2020, at best, and the employees of Versailles do not know if they will see the color. “Activision Blizzard will make less money, but still make a lot of money,” said a veteran.

If there is any merit to this news this year’s BlizzCon might not be as disappointing as last year’s. Blizzard might make up for the disaster of BlizzCon 2018 with Diablo 4 announcement. The article also mentions the next Overwatch game for 2020.

Diablo Immortal appeared at BlizzCon 2018 and fans didn’t like it one bit. At the biggest Blizzard event of the year, the developer chose to show Diablo Immortal. The company faced an immediate backlash at BlizzCon that made headlines across the internet.

To calm down the community Blizzard later confirmed “there are multiple Diablo projects” in development. Of course, one of these projects is Diablo 4. Diablo 3 came out back in 2012 and has since become a phenomenon (well, there are both good and bad phenomenons). Fans have waited for the game for 7 years and apparently, they’ll get it next year.

The timing of the news is intriguing and suggests that the title might be released for PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. If Diablo 4 release date is set in 2020 there is a decent chance it’ll be a next-gen game. We can only speculate at this point but we expect to know more at BlizzCon 2019.

The event is scheduled for November 1-3. Tickets are on sale but will most likely be sold out at this point.

Update: Blizzard is hiring new developers for “Unannounced Diablo” game.