The Diablo IV: Forging the Next Era panel covered the process of deciding whether to make an expansion or a sequel, and covers the story narrative and art direction, and the vision for the new game.
BlizzCon 2026 Diablo V: Forging the Next Era Panel Transcript
Johanna Faires: Hell, BlizzCon. My name is Johanna. And today we are here to discuss a monumental moment for the Diablo franchise and the unveiling of Diablo V. We have some pretty incredible developers behind this game joining us today. So let’s first start with some introductions.
Matt Zitterman: Hello, everybody. My name is Matt, and I’m the executive producer on Diablo V. I’m super excited to be here and grateful for the opportunity. Thank you.
Tiffany Wat: Hey everyone, I’m Tiffany. I’m the senior production director on Diablo V. I’ve had the awesome opportunity to work with both Joe and John on Diablo III and Diablo IV, and we got the team back together to work on Diablo V.
Joe Shely: Hi everyone, I’m Joe. Thank you. I’m the senior game director on Diablo V and it’s great to see everyone. It feels like it’s been a while.
Jennifer Brandes Hepler: I’m Jennifer. I’m fairly new to Diablo, but I have been writing games for the past 20 years, mostly dark fantasy. So I was so stoked to be able to jump into the Eternal Conflict as narrative director on Diablo V.
John Mueller: The newest weapon in our arsenal. Hello, BlizzCon.I’m so happy to be back, Tiffany. I’m the senior art director on Diablo and Tiffany, last time we were on stage together was way back in 2019 when we announced Diablo IV. And I’m really happy to be back here today to say that we are hard at work on Diablo V.
Johanna Faires: Awesome. Well, thanks everyone, and as a Diablo player and fan, I’m psyched and honored to be on the stage with all of you. So let’s get into it. Joe, break it down for us. What does the team want to share with players today?
Joe Shely: Yeah, the panel is going to cover a lot of ground. We’re going to talk about story, world, some classes, and a bit about gameplay and even a little bit about itemization. But before we dive in further, let’s take another look at the teaser.
| BLIZZCON 2026 DIABLO V: FORGING A NEW ERA PANEL TRANSCRIPT | ||||
| 1. Intro | 2. Story | 3. Art | 4. The World | 5. Classes |
| 6. Itemization | 7. Characters | 8. Environment | ||
