Diablo 4 arrived in June, but it appears Blizzard Entertainment still isn’t done hiring people to join it in its efforts to save the people of Sanctuary. Specifically, Blizzard was recently spotted by Reddit hiring for at least 18 different positions on LinkedIn, the highest paying of which is a trio of Lead Software Engineer openings for an on-site job at its California studio.
The interesting thing about these job listings is its timing. Skeptics will tell you Blizzard is hiring to replace the recently vacated positions, pointing fingers towards the company possibly bleeding top talent. But, a positive way of looking at things is this is Blizzard being proactive in its approach towards the live service genre.
With Diablo 4 losing players by the thousands in a span of three months, Blizzard needs all the help that it can get.
Blizzard is hiring people to work on Diablo IV. *not from blizz, found these looking for other jobs*
byu/anonfjr indiablo4
Blizzard rolled out the Season 1 patch for Diablo 4 last July, followed by the release of the debut season, Season of the Malignant. Both updates brought tweaks to Diablo 4, many of which were unwelcome. The changes, or the lack thereof, drew flack almost immediately, forcing Blizzard to apologize and promise to do better. Since then, Blizzard has actively tried to keep fans in the loop albeit it hasn’t exactly gone well for them. It’s come to a point that nearly zero people are tuning in to watch Diablo 4 events in real life and livestreams on Twitch.
At the moment, Blizzard is working hard to stick to the October 17 release date for Diablo 4’s second season, Season of Blood. So far, it’s shaping up to be better than the first one.
While fans didn’t exactly cheer for its initial announcement, Season 2 will introduce several quality of life changes that should make it a lot more palatable to come back and start over for the nth time.
Such improvements include:
- The option to stick the main story campaign and dive straight into the seasonal quests
- Up to 40% faster leveling
- Dungeons will see “massively reduced backtracking” and its design will be “more procedurally generated and random”
- Easier and faster inventory and stash management
- Much better mounts
- Permanent renown rewards (finally!)
- Farmable Unique and Uber Unique items
All these changes and improvements are only possible because Blizzard hires top talent to fill key positions to work on current and upcoming Diablo 4 seasons.
It’s no secret that live-service games require an all hands on deck approach. Call of Duty, for example, rotates between a trio of key studios (Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch) for each yearly installment. In addition, the three support each other’s entry with help from several other studios. It isn’t unusual for up to nearly a dozen studios working on the latest Call of Duty installment simultaneously, all so that it can continue becoming an annual fixture.
A new Diablo game doesn’t come out every year but each new season needs similar drawing power to bring back the players it lost. In between the seasons and the promised expansions, Blizzard is going to need a lot more help.
Hopefully, Blizzard isn’t hiring people blindly. Part of the criticism aimed at Diablo 4 is the developers don’t feel like a bunch of experts. A recent video showing one of the developers not knowing how to play Diablo 4 proves this.
Ultimately, the fact that Blizzard is looking for new talent to reinforce the Diablo 4 development team is something fans should appreciate. With multiple job openings available for other key roles and more likely to come – unlike others that are struggling to retain staff members, Blizzard hasn’t laid off employees outside of its esports department – Blizzard is showing its commitment towards improving the game.
While Diablo 4’s newest season isn’t available yet, the dungeon crawler is crossing over to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Overwatch 2, in the meantime. Finally, Diablo 4’s arrival on Steam coincides with the release of Season of Blood.
