Diablo 5 Officially Passes a Major Production Milestone

One of the biggest and most unexpected announcements out of this year's BlizzCon was the reveal that Diablo 5 is in development. Blizzard was even confident enough in the project to set a release date on the next entry in the action RPG series, slating the game for release in spring 2029. While that may feel like a long way away, the developer is using all the time it can get, and it seems the project has just begun an important stage.

Thanks to a post from Diablo's cinematic director, Neil David Carter, we now know that filming for the game's cinematics has begun. Carter posted a photo of an empty motion capture studio with the caption "First shoot #Diablo5." While the picture itself doesn't give anything away, eager fans are trying as hard as they can to read illegible text on screens, the fact that shooting has begun is itself a major indication of how Diablo 5's development is progressing.

IIf the Diablo 5 team is shooting cutscenes, this suggests the game's story is largely complete. While motion capture is also used for other types of animation in the game, the cinematic director being the source of the news suggests that narrative work is the focus of shooting.

What will Diablo 5 be about, and isn't Diablo 4 still being updated?

Thanks to the initial announcement, we know that Diablo 5 will be set 100 years after the events of Diablo 4. Sanctuary will have fallen, and the titular antagonist Diablo will return, seemingly having won the battle between good and evil once and for all. This plunges the world into a post-apocalyptic state that will leave players with an entirely new challenge.

If Blizzard keeps development on track, Diablo 5 will be released six years after Diablo 4. Currently, the latest entry in the series continues to receive updates, with the Lord of Hatred expansion having been released just this year. The announcement of Diablo 5 left some fans worried that Blizzard will focus on the new game and leave Diablo 4 behind, but the studio has since promised that it will support Diablo 4 even after the next entry launches, as long as the fanbase is still playing the game.