Diablo 4's second expansion won't be out until 2026

Diablo 4's plan for annual expansions seems to have gone mildly awry, as franchise general manager Rod Fergusson said during a DICE panel today that the game's second expansion won't be out until sometime in 2026.

Word of the longer-than-expected wait for the second expansion was first shared by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who posted Fergusson's update on Bluesky:

While talking about the successes and misses of Diablo 4's launch and subsequent updates and seasons, Fergusson said it was important for developers to share roadmaps of their future plans. Noting that a Diablo 4 roadmap for 2025 is on the way, he said, "Now, our second expansion won't be in that roadmap, because our second expansion is going to be in '26."

The initial plan was to give Diablo 4 yearly expansions, a schedule Fergusson revealed in a 2023 discussion about the game's live service operation. "When you look at the launch of the game and this first season, we see that as building a foundation on which we can build for the future," he said at the time. "So, as we look at our quarterly seasons, and we look at our annual expansions, those are the things we're really focused on for our live service."

Diablo 4's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, launched on October 8, 2024, and it was excellent: "An expansion that transforms Diablo 4 into one of the best action RPGs of the last decade," we said in our 90% review. That 2024 release naturally suggested that the next expansion would show up sometime in 2025, but apparently Blizzard needs a little more time to get things done.

That may be understandable, given the ongoing pressures of maintaining a live service game, and Blizzard would hardly be the first to run up against that particular wall: Bungie has notably been forced to delay multiple Destiny 2 expansions over the years including Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, Witch Queen, and The Final Shape. It's tough keeping the wheels turning on a live service game, and Blizzard's had its hands full since Diablo 4 first dropped in 2023.

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, Blizzard confirmed that 2026 is indeed the plan. "In his DICE Summit presentation today on building a resilient live service, Diablo GM Rod Fergusson emphasized serving the game over the plan," a Blizzard spokesperson said. "To that, we are excited to share that we are in development on our second expansion for Diablo 4 which will debut in 2026."