BlizzCon 2026: Putting Diablo Into Perspective

The news coming out of BlizzCon in Anaheim this year has me posting on a Sunday. While I am not the target audience for American triple-A games, I have to appreciate the longevity of one of Blizzard Entertainment's classic game franchises, Diablo.

Probably the biggest Diablo news was the announcement of Diablo V coming out sometime in 2029. I've never played a Diablo game but have seen enough clips over the years to kind of understand what is going on in the trailer.

But the following trailer hyping up 30 years of Diablo really got me to thinking. I never played but the game is an all-time classic. So I decided to take a look at what was going on 30 years ago with the franchises I cover.

First up is EVE Online. I know, I know, EVE did not launch until 2003. But Fenris Creations will also celebrate its 30th year of operations in 2027. According to official Icelandic business records, FC was originally incorporated on 16 July 1997. 

Next comes my current main game, Final Fantasy XIV. The game dates back to its original start in 2010, but the Final Fantasy franchise dates back to 1987. I do have to say that Diablo's launch month was a very good month for video games. Four weeks after Diablo launched on 3 January 1997, Square released Final Fantasy VII in Japan. For those wondering, Final Fantasy VII release in the U.S. in September and Europe in November. An interesting fact is that FFVII was the first Final Fantasy game to release in Europe.

Finally, I have to mention Star Citizen because of Chris Roberts. If Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are the spiritual successors to the Wing Commander series, then I'd be remiss in not pointing out that the last Wing Commander game Roberts released,  Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom, released on 8 February 1996, almost a full year ahead of Diablo's launch. 

I do want to point out something about the cost of developing video games back in the mid-1990s. When Wing Commander IV launched, Origin bragged that the $12 million development cost, the record at the time, was "the price of freedom." Of course, Wing Commander IV was a bit unusual as 90% of the development cost was shooting the cutscenes.

That record only lasted a year as 1997's Final Fantasy VII took $40-$45 million to develop with another $40 million spent in marketing the game. Meanwhile, Diablo only needed to sell 20,000 copies to break even.

Those were the days.