Diablo 4 production team visits Korea, "You can participate in beta at the affiliated PC room from the weekend."

▲ General manager of Diablo, Rod Fergusson and game director Joe Shely Diablo 4 answer questions at the Diablo 4 Open Beta Meeting held at the Intercontinental Seoul Parnas Hotel in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 15th. (Yonhap)

▲ Rod Fergusson, Diablo's general manager, greets at the Diablo 4 Open Beta Meeting held at the Intercontinental Seoul Parnas Hotel in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 15th. (Yonhap)

▲ Joe Shely, Diablo 4 game director, explains about the open beta service at the Diablo 4 Open Beta Meeting held at the Intercontinental Seoul Parnas Hotel in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 15th. (Yonhap)

▲ Robert Lee, president of Blizzard Entertainment Korea, greets at the Diablo 4 Open Beta Meeting held at the Intercontinental Seoul Parnas Hotel in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 15th.(Yonhap)

SEOUL, Mar. 16 (Yonhap) -- The production team, who visited Korea ahead of the beta test of the official sequel to the "Diablo 4" series, which will return in 11 years, said on Wednesday, "Anyone can participate in the beta test at Blizzard affiliated PC rooms nationwide from this weekend.

Rod Fergusson, general manager of Blizzard's Diablo series, said at a meeting held at Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, "I chose Korea as the first country to visit and meet fans."

Manager Fergusson said, "We can't leave out PC rooms in Korea, so we're also preparing benefits for PC rooms," adding, "At the time of launch, we will provide Korean dubbing to all more than 900 characters in the game, and we also produced a dedicated font ‘Canlis’ for the game."

The “Diablo” series is Blizzard's representative game IP (intellectual property).

Regular numbering titles such as Diablo (1996), Diablo 2 (2000), and Diablo 3 (2012) and mobile game Diablo Immortal (2022) are hit every time they come out in Korea and have a fan base that encompasses generations.

Director Joe Shely, who oversees the development and service of Diablo 4, explained the development philosophy, "The goal was to further evolve by combining the dark atmosphere shown in Diablo 1 and 2 and the exciting action shown in the 3rd."

Regarding the beta test, which will start on the 18th for pre-orders and for all users from the 25th, Shely said, "Players can play up to 25 out of 100 levels," adding, "Players can experience major content such as exploring the 'crushed peak' area and defeating the world boss ‘Ashava’ or occupying a fort full of enemies."

In the ensuing Q&A session, the production team mentioned countermeasures against server instability that occurred during the launch of Diablo 2 and 3.

"I think this open beta is the biggest opportunity to test the server," Fergusson said, stressing that he is doing his best to prepare for the server.

Regarding PVP (Player-to-Player Battle) system, Shely said, "Unlike Diablo 3, Diablo 4 has been considered and produced PVP since the beginning of development. Although it is not in beta test, you can enjoy PVP with content called 'Hate Battlefield' at the time of release."

Unlike its previous versions, Diablo 4 supports not only PCs but also console (PlayStation and Xbox) platforms from the time of release.

Asked if they plan to support additional Nintendo Switch versions, Fergusson replied, "No."

Diablo 4 is scheduled to be officially released on June 6 after an open beta test this month.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)

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