A genre-defining game from Blizzard Entertainment is celebrating its birthday today, with June 29 marking 23 years since Diablo 2 was released. Widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, Diablo 2 launched on this date in 2000 for both Microsoft PCs and Mac OS.
Set three years after the events of the first game in the series, Diablo, Diablo 2 was made specifically with online gaming in mind and played an integral part in sparking the popularity of online gaming after the turn of the millennia. The rest, as they say, is history. The Lord of Destruction expansion was released in 2001, with Diablo 3 then launching a whopping 12 years later to continue the series.
In 2021, a remastered version of Diablo 2 was released, which included the expansion, before fans finally got to experience the latest generation of the franchise with the release of Diablo 4 in June.
The success of Diablo 4 saw records tumble for Blizzard, crossing the $666 million sales mark in just five days and is still in the preseason stage of what’s likely to be an extensive life cycle.
Season one of Diablo 4 is due to launch in mid-to-late July, with each season bringing fresh content, loot to find, enemies to kill, and patch fixtures, though there has been some frustration with the fact a new character needs to be created to progress through the season’s rewards.
Related: Diablo 4 players have reached a point where they’re obliterating world bosses in 15 seconds
That is nothing new for the Diablo franchise, however, with Diablo 2 having a similar setup two decades ago. Back then, Ladder Seasons ranged from lasting as short as six months to over a year.
