In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Blizzard's president of game design Rob Pardo gave console owners a tiny sliver of hope that Diablo III could find its way onto their systems:
Now before you console owners get all excited, keep in mind that Blizzard has stated that they have no plans for console development and that Diablo III would be a PC and Mac exclusive. Still, it'd be interesting to see how Diablo would work on a console."I think it's theoretically possible. It would have some control changes that I think you'd have to make... But it's probably, of our major franchises, the one that's most console friendly, for sure. You'd need to think about a lot of the point-and-click spells, like point to area-of-effect, or things like line-damage in this direction. Target selection is something you're going to lose on console, you're really going to be able to do targeting direction, but not specific targeting. Out of StarCraft, Warcraft or WOW, Diablo would be the easiest game to translate. But it would still take a bit of work."
I'm sure some of you remember trying Diablo on the original Playstation system. It didn't look or play nearly as well as the PC version, but consoles have come a long way since then. So what do you think? Would you like to see Diablo III released on consoles as well or should it remain a PC/Mac exclusive?
Ever play Champions of Norrath or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance? Both were Diablo clones and worked very well with a gamepad.
Here is why I don't think it will happen.
1. Battlenet. I just don't think Blizzard wants to support 3 platforms with Battlenet. They would have to make patches for PC, 360, PS3 and then continuously test that they all play together. Or they would have to waste resources by having reduntant jobs for people to support the different platforms. Why would they want to do this? Diablo fans WILL play on PC like they have been for 11 years.
2. Blizzard does not make garbage games. They cancelled Star Craft Ghost. They have already scrapped one iteration of Diablo3. I just don't see them doing a quick/dirty port. Sure they did for PSone but it sucked compared to the PC version. It was slow and clunky compared to the PC game.
But yes, they could port it to consoles. Console fanboys are forgetting the simple fact that Blizzard has been PC-only for a decade. The only console game they have considered in the last decade got cancelled. They have 11 million subscribers to WOW. They are the only PC software company that can dictate the market. They don't need console sales. Consoles need them for sales.
They had the Sims on PS2 which many people thought it would theoretically impossible, but turned out alright in the end. So it would have to be a different version, like having a Tomb Raider style inventory, making it 3rd person, having a Halo themed way of picking up weapons making you decide whether or not you want to pick it up, etc.