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JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Hey, everybody!
Welcome to the official XBOX Podcast, the only podcast coming to you from inside XBOX or today inside the Anaheim Convention Center.
We are at BlizzCon 2026.
It’s my first one, and I am just so hyped.
It’s unbelievable.
LINA MADRID: We’ve already been running around, taking pictures with everything.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Playing games.
LINA MADRID: Playing games, all right.
But right now we’re here to talk all things Diablo.
And joining us are Tiffany and Matt, welcome.
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Hello.
TIFFANY WAT: Hey.
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Thanks for having us.
LINA MADRID: So let’s dive into this.
TIFFANY WAT: All right.
LINA MADRID: Diablo, obviously having a massive year.
TIFFANY WAT: Thirty years.
LINA MADRID: Yeah, 30th anniversary.
And then, over 130 million players have walked the Path to Hell.
Pretty incredible, right?
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Yeah, we’re very excited to see tons of fans come out and enjoy Diablo here at BlizzCon.
LINA MADRID: Yeah, and like showing no signs of stopping either, just keep going.
Massive announcement, Diablo V.
You heard the crowds cheering, screaming for it.
TIFFANY WAT: It was very energizing and such — like whatever the positive version of like weight off my chest, to finally be able to tell the world what we’ve been working on.
LINA MADRID: Yeah, I can’t imagine like the feeling when you’re there on stage revealing that moment.
Can you like walk us through what was in your head?
Sure.
I mean, the room was so alive.
I mean, we were talking about so many great things that have come to Diablo.
Like you were saying this year, we announced the Amazon, we have the Season of Hell’s Legacy for Diablo IV.
We’ve just had an incredible year with the Paladin and the Warlock.
And so I felt like it was just growing energy the more and more we were talking.
And I was like, we are going to land this.
They’re going to be blown away.
And when that logo landed and Diablo was in smoke and ashes, I mean, the room just erupted.
And I knew that was going to happen just because I could feel it coming.
And that’s how I feel every time I think about Diablo V.
But it’s just so gratifying to finally be able to share with the world, just the world we’ve been creating.
And we’ve just been so excited to talk about it for quite a bit now.
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Yeah, seeing the logo reveal come together on the lead up to BlizzCon, I had a similar reaction to Tiffany of just seeing it come together and being like, yeah, we’re doing this.
This is going to happen.
It’s going to be real.
Players are going to love it.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: One of the things Blizzard has always done a really good job of is keeping games going, like new character for Heroes of the Storm today.
Warcraft III gets a whole new campaign.
And of course, there were tons of announcements around Diablo IV, which we’ll be talking about here in a couple minutes.
Diablo II Resurrected got the Warlock this year.
Diablo Immortal’s getting tons of stuff too.
As all these ideas are floating around, how do you go, you know what, like the idea we have is too big for anything that currently exists and it’s time for a new era of Diablo?
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Yeah.
I think it starts really by making sure we understand our players super well.
You said it yourself, there’s like many different versions of Diablo now.
We’ve got 30 years of Diablo, 130 million players.
Over the years, we’ve accumulated quite a collection of different types of players.
There’s players who love the story and the characters, players who love the dark fantasy vibes, players who want to build craft and theory craft and min-max their character and grind for loot and everybody in between, people who want to jump on Discord or just play with their friends, right?
So we have a lot of different types of Diablo players.
And so that’s really inspiring for us.
We are able to look at each of those types of players and say, what’s going to make the best, most authentic Diablo game for them?
And I think that’s where we start.
We start there and we start, get in the room and we start thinking about what features need to come together to make the best possible Diablo game.
LINA MADRID: Yeah.
In the Diablo V reveal trailer, there was one moment that gave me chills, and it was when the text “Sanctuary Falls” shows up.
How do you even begin to craft a world where the heroes have lost?
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So dark.
LINA MADRID: Yeah.
TIFFANY WAT: It’s been really exciting to actually lean into a story that we’ve never really had the opportunity to tell before.
Which is, what is the world like after Diablo has already won?
We’re always trying to stop him from taking over Sanctuary, and I think being able to land like the battle has won and Diablo has won it, just allows us to be able to explore like a darker side of Sanctuary than ever before.
Because now there are so few survivors.
There are very few opportunities to find hope.
They still exist.
There are glimmers of hope.
They live in the Caravan and the stories we’re going to be able to tell there.
That post-apocalyptic world, the idea that it’s very desolate, that survival is challenging, the world of Diablo lends itself to this type of story so well that it’s almost like, wow, why haven’t we told this story before?
And you’d ask the question of stepping into the next era of Diablo.
Matt was sort of talking about it on stage earlier.
It’s like we knew that we really wanted to tell the story of Diablo.
I feel like he’s the lead Prime Evil, and he really needs his own game and a way to like freshen up that story.
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Yeah.
And it’s also really influenced how we think about what the game looks like.
John, our art director, I think will say, always says, “We’re going to double down on darkness, doubling down on darkness, sin.” That’s been really amazing to see come together as we’ve started to develop the visuals for the game and really understand like how do we take what is already a pretty dark situation of the world of Sanctuary, stuck in the internal conflict, and truly double down on it.
And I think the way that we’re thinking about architecting the world and what it looks like when hell is broken through, what does an outpost of hell in Sanctuary actually look like, it gives us an opportunity to not only explore what it looks like when Diablo has already won, but to see the stories play of what happened to humanity in the invasion, Diablo’s invasion into Sanctuary, like see those stories play out visually in the palette of the world, I think is an exciting opportunity as well.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: There’s only so much you can tell us now in 2026 for a game that’s coming out in 2029.
I’m just really curious about like what are some of the guiding principles?
What are some of the things we should be taking away and thinking about as we muse for like the next three years?
I’m sure we’ll see more in between now and then.
Like you mentioned some of the types of players that currently engage in Diablo and that there’s a Diablo for everyone.
Is there like a niche or is there something there where you’re like, oh, people who love this are going to love what we’re doing here in Diablo V?
MATT ZIMMERMAN: Somebody on the team, I don’t know who, wrote a sticky note and put it in our director’s office and it says, “Best campaign ever.” And he looks at that all the time, all the time.
And it’s really become kind of a pillar of how we think about the game.
And that’s an example of us taking what was great in Diablo IV and taking it further.
Diablo IV I feel like set a new standard for storytelling in a Diablo game.
The cinematics are off the charts.
Lilith is this amazing villain with depth and complexity.
And the cast really comes to life as the player kind of makes its way from being kind of outside the story to being the central focus.
And so we looked at all those things, all those components that made Diablo IV’s campaign really sing, and saw that as an opportunity to take it to the next level.
And so I think one of the things that players can look forward to with Diablo V is taking everything we’ve learned and built on for Diablo IV in terms of how we tell an amazing cinematic story and really doing it better.
LINA MADRID: We know, it’s once again, way too early for a lot of details, but we have to mention it.
Netflix Diablo Animated Series.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: What a pop that got on stage.
LINA MADRID: Yeah, that was so amazing to see.
I mean, is there anything that you can tell us?
TIFFANY WAT: Not today [laughter].
I wish that we could.
We are just as excited about that announcement as I think everyone that listened to it is.
The opportunity to be able to partner with them and really grow the stories of Sanctuary is, I don’t know, I’m like tingling actually thinking about it.
I can’t wait to see it come to life.
And really, like I said, bring the story of Diablo and Sanctuary to so many other people.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Tiffany, Matt, it’s clear we have a lot to talk about between now and the launch of that series and between 2029, so we’ll look forward to that.
But in the meantime, let’s talk about Diablo IV.
LINA MADRID: Okay, we’re here in different outfits, too.
I raided the merch store.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, I sweated through my previous shirt.
LINA MADRID: All right, Jeff.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Sorry.
LINA MADRID: We’re here to now talk all things Diablo IV, and joining us are Dan and Owen.
Welcome.
OWEN LEACH: Thank you so much.
Yeah, great to be here.
DAN TANGUAY: Thanks for having us.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We were just talking with Tiffany and Matt and like sort of like reveling in like 30 years of Diablo.
And I’d have to imagine, their year was a lot different than your year has been.
They were sort of toiling secretly.
Whereas I think back to the Game Awards last year, you dropped the Paladin, then you had the Spotlight, and then the Warlock dropped, and Lord of Hatred, and it’s been like hit after hit after hit for Diablo IV players this year.
Now you’re here at BlizzCon, you get to look at the players in the eye, you get to see.
What are you seeing?
What are you hearing from them?
OWEN LEACH: Honestly, it’s been nothing but positive.
They’re so excited just seeing the players play the demo that we created and killed all the Prime Evils in person here at BlizzCon.
And it’s awesome.
And the energy in the room.
We were on a panel recently, and just the energy in that space was awesome.
And it’s so exciting.
We don’t get to interact with fans that often, and to see them all come together in the space with a common interest, it’s awesome.
LINA MADRID: Yeah.
So, okay, now looking forward, you all just announced Season 15 for Diablo IV, and that’s called the Season of Hell’s Legacy.
What can you tell us about Season 15?
And what can players expect jumping in today?
DAN TANGUAY: Yeah, so Season of Hell’s Legacy, when we came up with the concept, really just started simply as a celebration of 30 years of Diablo.
We realized that it was the 30th anniversary as of the 31st of December.
And we knew there was going to be a BlizzCon.
And so we said, all right, this is a prime opportunity for us to do something that can really capture the history of Diablo.
And so with that in mind, we then basically got to working on what it means to celebrate Diablo.
And so, in short, Season 13 is a journey into the past.
You get a guide in the form of Deckard Cain.
He comes back from the dead.
And he comes back, though, with three Dark Wanderers.
And they are someone you need to defeat and redeem.
And upon doing that, you’re able to take the power of the Prime Evils as your own and start wielding the powers of Dark Wanderers yourself.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: What a flashback it was.
We have the demo here.
We got to play sort of like maybe a sped up or a truncated version.
But hearing Deckard Cain’s voice at the beginning, you really hit the stay a while part.
I was transported back to my dorm room back in the ’90s when I first started playing.
DAN TANGUAY: That’s exactly what we’re going for.
I mean, it was really important for us to get people to remember those moments.
And hopefully we’ve captured a lot of those moments that they do remember in the season.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I also remember the part where I got my ass kicked by Diablo [laughter].
Baal, no problem.
Mephistos, pretty good.
And then Diablo.
No one was standing over my shoulder, fortunately, to see me sort of crumble on that one.
But talk about taking the splinter of the power.
I’d imagine like with the good comes with the bad.
There’s a devil’s bargain in a literal sense.
DAN TANGUAY: I can talk about that a little bit.
So when you defeat all of the Dark Wanderers, you extract the splinters of evil from them — think of these splinters as like echoes of soul stones.
And of course, nothing good comes of those things, right?
But in order to clean up the mess that’s been created, you need to wield that power.
Let’s take the splinter of destruction as an example.
That’s a Baal splinter.
You take that on, you unlock one of its signature powers, and then through leveling up the splinter, you’re able then to level up that power, add different effects to it, and kind of get it into its ultimate form.
Well, that’s not the only thing you’re able to do.
We don’t want it just to be about power.
So also as you are leveling up the splinter, you’re able to start impacting the War Plans trees and you’re able to start adding modifiers to those.
So now the activities throughout the endgame are also modified by your progress in Baal’s power.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So one of the things we didn’t get a chance to do because we’re here is get to challenge Mephistos.
By the way, love a good portmanteau.
So 10 out of 10 on that one.
Did I miss my chance?
Like, is that that?
OWEN LEACH: So no, actually.
We’re super pleased with how he’s received.
He was in the BlizzCon demo.
He did the World Boss takeover.
And we didn’t want to say goodbye quite yet.
So he’s in Season of Hell’s Legacy, you just got to find him.
So if I were you, I would take a stroll around Skovos, see what you find, and maybe follow that little breadcrumb, and maybe you’ll see Mephisto.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All right.
LINA MADRID: Okay, interesting.
If we could just like shift gears, look to the next year.
You just announced a new class coming to Diablo IV in the first half of 2027, the Amazons, and with that a new weapon type as well, the javelin.
That’s awesome.
OWEN LEACH: Yeah.
LINA MADRID: So like what does the Amazon feel like when you play as her?
DAN TANGUAY: So it’s still pretty early at this point, but what we’re aiming for with the Amazon first off is that the Amazon, she’s a soldier.
She is disciplined.
And that really sets her apart from a lot of the other classes.
So you’re going to get a feel that’s lethal, but highly controlled, which is pretty cool.
When you throw the javelin into the mix, suddenly you’ve got this soldier who has a lot of versatility that some of the other classes don’t.
You’re able to attack at extremely long range with a bow, obviously.
But with the javelin, you’re able to attack mid-range and you’re able to swap between ranged and melee very, very easily.
One of the archetypes that we’re exploring right now is the idea of a skirmisher.
You’re almost able to go in, deal a bunch of attacks, come out.
And so you get kind of this stick and move kind of feel to the gameplay.
LINA MADRID: Yeah, we saw an image with the different archetypes.
That looked awesome.
There was a sword and shield.
There was the bow you mentioned.
Could you kind of go in a little more on?
DAN TANGUAY: Yeah.
So we got the ranger and the skirmisher, we just talked about those.
And so the other two are actually entirely new to the Amazon.
The next new one is actually called the Champion.
And this is the idea that we have given this Amazon a sword and shield.
She’s going to get up close, and she’s going to be pretty mean about it.
And so it’s not going to be like the Barbarian.
The Barbarian is very much about that unbridled rage, right?
Again, she’s very disciplined.
She calls her shots and takes her shots.
But she’s got some tricks up her sleeves in the form of banners and things like that that provide additional support for her.
The other archetype is the commander archetype.
And this was one that we felt pretty strongly with.
After playing through Lord of Hatred, as I’m sure you have, you got to see all the Amazons fighting together as squads and as battalions.
And we really wanted to capture that feel in the character as well, live up to the promise that Lord of Hatred started.
And so with the Commander archetype, you are really fulfilling this promise of commanding Valkyries and commanding Vallochs and being able to fight together with your sisters in order to be able to combat the enemy.
LINA MADRID: So is there any kind of particular skill or ability that you personally are like, yes, I love this?
DAN TANGUAY: Yeah.
So Amazon was one of my main classes in DII.
And so I am particularly thrilled to have the javelin come back.
Because, you know, just the emotional feeling of throwing a javelin into the air and having it transform into a bolt of lightning and then splitting apart and just zapping everyone else, I think, is something I’d really like to do.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Well, Dan, Owen, thank you so much for taking time out to speak with us today.
Let’s get you back out onto the show floor and you can stand behind people as they’re playing and watch them fumble facing Diablo like I did.
And for the rest of you all, who I’m sure are playing much better than I do, thanks again for watching the Official XBOX Podcast.
We will see you on the next one.

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Built-in Game Audio and Chat Balance Control for PS5	–	Yes
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Carrying Case	–	Yes
Audio/Microphone Jack	–	Yes

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