Diablo 5 Inches Closer to Launch as Cinematic Work Begins

Diablo 5 is still years away, but development appears to be progressing now that Blizzard has begun filming its cinematic.

Diablo 5 is still a few years away, but it looks like development is picking up steam now that Blizzard has begun filming for its theatrical release.

Blizzard director Neil David Carter posted a photo of the motion capture stage on X/Twitter and simply said, "First shot of #Diablo5." Diablo 5 is probably not too late in development if the film team has just started motion capture. However, if the film crew is shooting motion capture for the cutscenes, then the story is mostly already formed.

Fortunately, in an interview with Windows Central, senior producer Tiffany Watt confirmed that Diablo 5 will use the Diablo 4 engine, so at least the team didn't have to start building the game from scratch. But in a game like Diablo 5, there's a lot of work to be done on balance, item creation, and world design, and the new game will probably be a bit more complex than Diablo 4 thanks to procedurally generated maps.

— Neil David Carter (@NeilDavidCarter) October 14, 2026

That's why some people, like the former co-founder of Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Games, are skeptical that Diablo 5 is going to hit its target release date. After all, if Diablo 5 comes out in Spring 2029, it will be six years after Diablo 4. There was an 11-year gap between Diablo 3 and Diablo 4. The gap between Diablo 4 and Diablo 5, if all goes according to plan, will be roughly half. It's no surprise that Blizzard has to work hard to convince its players that Diablo 4 is not going to be abandoned early and that the game will still have content even after Diablo 5 is released.

Only time will tell if Diablo 4 will continue to receive updates, or if only a handful of chapters will be repeated like Diablo 3 after Diablo 4's release. But, really, all we can do is wait and see how things play out. For what it's worth, Diablo 5 is shaping up to be a completely different ARPG than its predecessor, and I can't wait to see what the movies they're filming now will look like.

Diablo 5 tells three stories, including the past, the current destruction of Diablo's dominance, and the formation of Terror in the future of Sanctuary. Diablo 5 takes place almost a century after Diablo 4, in a post-apocalyptic timeline where the Lord of Terror himself has already triumphed and rules over a fallen sanctuary.

Are you still playing Diablo 4 now that development is no longer confirmed and Diablo 5 is coming in 2029?

It depends (tell us why in the comments!)