In an interview with Eurogamer, Matthew Cederquist, executive producer of the Diablo Legacy team, stated that despite the development of Diablo IV and active support for Diablo II: Resurrected, the third installment retains a large player base. "There are literally millions of people who still play Diablo 3," he noted.
According to Cederquist, the franchise's audience regularly moves between different games in the series. After the release of Diablo IV, some users did switch to the new installment, but with the launch of each seasonal update, many return to Diablo III. A similar dynamic is observed with Diablo II: Resurrected. There is a constant redistribution of the audience within the ecosystem, but this does not mean a decline in interest in a specific game.
«We see strong fluctuations in our games, and that’s because of the seasonal content. Everyone comes back for the leaderboard race. We specifically space out the season starts so that the D3, D2, and D4 leaderboards don’t overlap. Players might say, “Okay, I’ll try this version of Diablo now, and in a couple of weeks, I’ll try another one.”»
The comment was prompted by the words of former franchise head Rod Fergusson, who claimed that Diablo II: Resurrected has a larger audience than Diablo 3. Cederquist emphasized that such figures reflect only a specific point in time and depend on seasonal cycles.
The developers also compared the behavior of Diablo fans with the World of Warcraft community. Unlike MMORPGs, where players are tied to a character and guild for years, Diablo allows you to enter and exit content without serious social obligations. Lead designer Tim Vasconcellos noted that this format is especially suitable for an audience that has grown older over time and is not always ready for long gaming sessions.
«You can keep playing on your own if you want, and there’s no social pressure, so people easily switch from one game to another. It’s more feasible in today’s world where we have so much going on, and players have gotten older and have more responsibilities. I’m a Diablo fan myself. That’s the reality; I think Diablo is perfect for those kinds of players.»
An additional surge of interest is currently observed in Diablo II: Resurrected. The game received the Reign of the Warlock expansion with a new class, the first in the original's 25-year history, and also launched on Steam and appeared in Game Pass. According to Cederquist, the remaster's audience is also in the millions.