Diablo 4’s Expansion Delay Was a Double-Edged Sword, But It May Fall Right Side Up

A few months after Diablo 4‘s successful launch in June 2023, Blizzard executive Rod Fergusson made the bold claim that the game would receive new expansions every year. Although Blizzard was no stranger to supporting its titles long-term, it had never really attempted annualized expansions with the Diablo franchise before. Diablo games typically only received one or two major DLCs throughout their lifespans, with Diablo 3 getting just two expansions over five years. Nonetheless, Blizzard seemed committed to its plans. It launched Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred a little over a year after the base game’s release.

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred was generally well-received and, at the time, seemed like proof that Blizzard was sticking to the plan. However, the expansion won’t be getting a follow-up anytime soon. Blizzard confirmed earlier this year that the Diablo 4 expansion planned for this year has been delayed to 2026, meaning that the game will not receive yearly DLCs as initially planned. This was caused in part by Vessel of Hatred‘s three-month delay since that expansion was originally meant to launch in June 2024 instead of October. The delay of that DLC overall, according to Rod Fergusson, pushed Diablo 4‘s entire post-launch roadmap back considerably.

Diablo 4 Releases New Update for June 2025

Blizzard releases a new update for Diablo 4, continuing to improve the popular action role-playing game during its ongoing Season 8.

Upon hearing the news that Diablo 4‘s yearly expansion had been delayed, some fans may have been upset. Diablo 4‘s post-launch support hasn’t been amazing, to say the least, and a lot of disgruntled gamers are disappointed that Blizzard hasn’t been adding enough substantial content to the game’s seasonal updates. The newly-announced Diablo 4 roadmap for 2025 is already light enough as it is, but the delay of the expansion is the real sting. That said, this may prove beneficial for both the expansion and Diablo 4 in the long run.

The Diablo 4 Expansion Delay Could Help the Game in the Long Run

Blizzard Should Fix the Problems in Diablo 4 Before Launching the Game’s Next DLC

Part of the reason why Vessel of Hatred was postponed back in 2024 was because Blizzard had stopped working on it to give Diablo 4‘s core systems a major overhaul. This was, in retrospect, probably the right move to make. Perhaps Blizzard can fill in the gap left by the recent Diablo 4 expansion delay by continuing to improve the base game. As it stands, Diablo 4 has a few balancing issues and bugs that could be ironed out before the launch of the next DLC. This period could be a “season of support,” although Blizzard itself has refrained from such a claim. It’d be nice if Blizzard added an offline mode to the game, as well, in the meantime.

Annualized Releases Would’ve Made the Diablo 4 Expansions Less Exciting

The expansion’s delay to 2026 also has one other obvious benefit for Diablo 4: it makes the DLC’s release more meaningful. If Blizzard had stuck to its original plan of annualized Diablo 4 expansions, then there would be an inevitable sacrifice of quality in favor of quantity. The timing would have also decreased excitement for DLCs as fans would have come to know when and what to expect from them. The Diablo 4 expansion’s postponement will at least make it feel like a bigger deal for many fans. More people may come back to give Diablo 4‘s second major DLC a try, due to the long gap between it and Vessel of Hatred.

The 2026 Diablo 4 Expansion Could Bring a Lot of Players Back to the Game

If there’s one thing that Diablo 4 needs right now, it’s a resurgence in players as it seemingly struggles to keep up with the other live-service action RPGs like Path of Exile 2 and Last Epoch. Next year’s expansion could kick off a boom period for the game, as long as it ends up being as good as people are hoping for.