Diablo fans are anxiously awaiting more news regarding Blizzard's upcoming ARPG, Diablo 4. The new game is tentatively planned for release in 2023 and Blizzard is limiting announcements to quarterly reports from the development team. While it may not be an official announcement, there is some good news to share. Blizzard has reportedly begun its Friends and Family Alpha testing for Diablo 4, and the early word on the game is "mostly positive."
The report comes from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who spoke on the subject on Twitter recently. Schreier shared that he'd heard a "bunch of people" are currently playing an early build of Diablo 4 via a Friends and Family Alpha test. Schreier explains that these Diablo 4 players are all under a non-disclosure agreement, which is why he doesn't share any more specific information. However, he does say that he's "hearing mostly positive buzz" via early impressions.
Friends and Family Alpha tests are a tradition at Blizzard, as well as other game development studios. Initial testing is all done internally, then testing is expanded to include friends and family members of employees under the assumption that they're more trustworthy and reliable for meaningful feedback. Alphas then slowly introduce more content as it's ready, though Blizzard has talked some recently about focusing its alphas on more specific types of content with World of Warcraft.
The long and short of it is that Diablo 4 development appears to be moving along productively. An alpha test by no means indicates that Diablo 4 is near to completion or anywhere close, but it is still an important step as Blizzard moves toward its 2023 release window. An NDA'd alpha test also, naturally, has to come before larger non-NDA'd tests occur. Perhaps beta testing will be manageable later this year.
Confirmation that early impressions of Diablo 4 are generally positive is perhaps less important to consider. It's expected that impressions from Blizzard friends and family will be positive, of course. But also, so much of Diablo 4's success depends on a breadth of content that testers likely haven't progressed through -- if it's even been added to the game yet. Diablo 4 will feature live service components, after all, and those are difficult to evaluate outside a live environment.
Blizzard's release of Diablo Immortal earlier in 2022 has soured some fans toward the Diablo franchise, particularly when live service elements are mentioned. Blizzard has its work cut out for itself regaining the trust of Diablo fans in preparation for the launch of Diablo 4. There's plenty of time yet, luckily.
Diablo 4 releases in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.