Diablo IV Won't Have an Offline Mode; Will Support Local Co-op on Consoles

Following the announcement of Diablo IV at BlizzCon, Blizzard Entertainment provided more information during a panel focusing on the features of the game.

[ShockUltraslash]

Absolutely disgusting.
This means ALL assets you acquire can be taken away by Blizzard. Imagine supporting Hong Kong and losing your account.
Also this means that one day the servers will shut down an nobody will be able to play the game.
Dont believe me?
Try playing Lawbreakers.

[2pacalypsenow]

Unfortunately we’re already slaves to a connected world.

[2pacalypsenow]

If your internet goes down, can you still play it?

[TK-66]

@2pacalypsenow

Yes. I just tether my phone to my computer and use that instead...

[2pacalypsenow]

@Tk-66

Hence my comment about a connected world. Without some sort of internet connection these games are useless.

[Old McGroin]

@2pacalypsenow

Always see comments like this for always online games, can you still play if your internet goes down? Like how often does your internet go down? I live pretty rural and don't get super fast speeds but my connection never goes down. If you can't play a game because your internet is down regularly then you should probably look into switching broadband provider instead of bitching about always online.

[Muzikguy]

I'm not a slave as I don't play those games

@Old McGroin

That's only part of the equation, internet going down. It can get bogged down too, and become very slow. It's also another bill that has to be paid just to play a game you already paid for (and even more if it were a sub based game), AND Plus or Xbox Live. I'm not putting my faith in companies to be able to enjoy games. Internet, servers, networks.... Some games sure but not all. Definitely not for games that could easily have an offline mode and couch co-op

[Psychotica]

You can't watch tv if the cable goes out either..

[bluefox755]

I see lots of comments saying why it "isn't that big of a deal", but not seeing many telling why it's a good idea? Why not just have an offline option for those who want it? Can't be that difficult for a company the size of blizzard.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Imagine a world where you can't play Diablo by yourself... That is ridiculous. Blizzard shot themselves in the foot

[SuicidalTendencies]

So many gamers have Stockholm syndrome now a days. It amazes me that people would defend this always online bullshit.

[TK-66]

@2pacalypse

An area of the world that can't connect to the internet 99% of the time every year is not the sort of place a software company should want to base their financial results on.

@bluefox

No ones saying it's a good idea. Just saying that if average quality internet connectivity is an issue for you, you've likely got better things to be doing compared to spending it winging on an comment section.

The argument of "wut if yur internet dun wurk?" Is weak. It shouldn't be used to combat online only games.

[Muzikguy]

@TK

There are many more arguments against online only gaming than "wut if yur internet dun wurk" people just refuse to listen. Still that alone is not a weak argument. You just don't like it sounds like

[TK-66]

@Muzikguy

Then make them and don't make the worst possible argument. And yes its a bad argument. If your internet is so shit that you can't play vidya gaems then you have no business telling others what is right and wrong in a comment section. Make a better argument like about how many major releases with a focus on online services often have instability issues at launch. Make a better argument than "yeh but wut if wun day yur internet not wurk?"

What your basically telling me is that I MIGHT not be able to play for 1 or 2 days a year, and even then your being really fucking desperate and hoping the stars align on those days for my internet to not work. That's how bad your argument is. It relies on a statistically unlikely event to happen at the same time I want to play the game in question. The position is weak; accept it.

[2pacalypsenow]

@Tk-66

Another great example.

Yesterday the COD servers were down for a bit after the 1.06 update, I couldn't play the single player campaign, multiplayer or co op.

I just spent $50 on a game that I cant play because their network was down.

Do you see the problem here?

[TK-66]

@2pacalypsenow

Yes, so make that argument instead of the dumb one.

"Do you see the problem here?"

Evidently I saw it before you if I had to be the one to make the argument for you...

[Muzikguy]

@TK

It sounds like you know plenty but you're focusing on one. There are plenty. And no, the original is not weak. Not everyone will have the same options available. It seems you fail to understand this. Mine goes down more than twice a year (quite a bit actually all over the area) and some areas of the country have it considerably worse. You are not everyone. Your circumstances don't represent everyone. Accept that. You have to put yourself in someone else's position sometimes to gain a better understanding. You don't seem to know how to do that.

[2pacalypsenow]

@TK

That was my argument?

I just said we’re slaves to a connected world.

We’re all gamers here, and if in the future every game needs internet then we’re forced to have some sort of online connectivity.

This doesn’t just apply to gaming, but everything around us needs internet.

Imagine all internet connections end right now, what would people do?

[TK-66]

@Muzikguy

"Not everyone will have the same options available. It seems you fail to understand this. Mine goes down more than twice a year (quite a bit actually all over the area) and some areas of the country have it considerably worse."

Falls within my estimation in my original criticism of the argument. Twice a year is less than one percent. So it seems I do understand when you describe a situation that lines up exactly within what I said.

Already addressed people who dont have a strong enough connection to meet a measly check-in ping. If the internet in your country is that bad then you're not playing video games. You're right that I'm not the world, but the people you're demanding be catered to with this argument dont have any value to the market so they will be looked over. Dont like it? Do what I said and make a better argument.

[JackBNimble]

We are all slaves to the internet.
Social media anyone?
I grew up in a time where your phone was hardwired to the wall , and only the rich had the first cellphone aka the brick.

If you wanted to get ahold of someone and you were away from home you had to find a payphone.

Can imagine not being able to message people when ever you wanted or just Google something?

Back on topic...
Games like this being always online are garbage and I really don't see a valid reason the dev's would do this.

[UltraNova]

Why Blizzard...why? What's so hard about giving us an SP mode (with local co-op) and a separate online mode for the meta?

I mean they've got the Holly Trinity of game development - money, man power and time...

Blizzard is fast approaching my permanent no buy list.

[TK-66]

@2pacalypsenow

You made the argument "If your internet goes down, can you still play it?". If you believe this is a valid argument against online only games, then you have to admit that power outages are a valid argument against home consoles and desktop PC's.

"Imagine all internet connections end right now, what would people do?"

Imagine all power sources end right now, what would people do? Diablo 4's target audience has internet access 99% of the time in the year. If your line of argumentation is to ask me about people in the 3rd world or people who can't afford an average internet package, then you're arguing that the game needs to cater to people who have no business purchasing video games.

This argument everyone is making is dumb. If you want to rightfully argue against mandatory online connections make the best possible argument, and not the one that can be refuted by a simple analogy to electricity.

[2pacalypsenow]

@TK-66

Diablo is not an online only game. It's a single player game with online features I never said anything about "Online only" games. Obviously an online only game needs internet, I don't expect to play Call of Duty online without internet, but I do expect to play the single player campaign without internet.

I'm talking about every game needing online, only to authenticate and not because of online feature.

[Jrios355]

You're saying that as if online-only games haven't been around for years.

[vTuro24]

You're saying that as if that's a good thing that we should all accept and bow down to like a bunch of sheep.

[Jrios355]

@vTuro24

No one seemed to have a problem with online-only games like Quake 3 Arena and Team Fortress 2. Why is Overwatch a problem?

[Muzikguy]

Well would you look at that. I knew Blizzard couldn't be trusted (or Activision for that matter). They've successfully killed any hype I had for this game in less than 24 hours. Now I won't even bother looking at anything else for it as I know with 100% certainty that I won't be getting the game. I can not stand always online games and refuse to support them.

[TRYNDAREUS]

Feel the same. Was gonna purchase but now, I'm not even gonna bother reading up on anything else to do with the game. Did the same for Breakpoint.

[Xb1ps4]

Same here.. very disappointed

[rainslacker]

EA did the same thing with SimCity, and it was disappointing, because I really like SimCity. Their reasoning was that it was so I could connect to all these other people's cities from my own.

My only thought was, "why would I want to do that?". Not that I would mind if it was an option, but I don't like the idea of making a game online only, when the SP component doesn't really require it for any reason at all.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Why would anyone expect offline play? Can you offline play on destiny? Or even Diablo 3?

And I dont give a shit about China.

[Nu]

No online require d for D3

[CorndogBurglar]

Bringing up other games (like Destiny) that have online only play does not justify other games doing it. Especially when people complain about Destiny being online only as well.

[TRYNDAREUS]

That's why breakpoint was a disaster. Go to the forum and you will see a thread nearly 60 pages long of people asking for it to be offline. This is one of the main reasons games are flopping.

Single player games are being made online only, and when no one buys them they give the excuse its because gamers dont like single player games anymore. Destiny 2 is not a single player game and Diablo 3 can be played offline.

[2pacalypsenow]

Their servers were down for a few hours yesterday which locked me out of the Single player, wich made the entire game unplayable.

"Why would anyone want to play a single player campaign without internet."

Does that sound logical?

[rainslacker]

If there is a SP portion of the game, why would anyone expect to have to connect to the internet to play it?

[CobraKai]

I can play all my games from NES to PS 2 without internet. I’m just saying

[starrman1985]

It will be like playing Diablo 3 on PC.... which really isn't that bad.

[Zenbaby369]

Omg they could stop letting me play! The evidence shows that I'll only be able to play the game online for...24 years and counting? Pretty sure you can still play Warcraft 2 online, and Starcraft etc. etc. So..evidence suggests you have anything to worry about. I would recommend comparing Diablo 4, to Diablo 2. Because they are much more similar than Diablo 4 and Lawbreakers.

I mean I get it, it might be somewhat annoying to some people that they might not be able to play it someday. Assuming they don't just patch an offline mode when/if they stop support in your lifetime. But the evidence all suggests that it seems unlikely support will stop in that time frame.

I wanted to say that the only thing disgusting here is how sensitive you must be to be disgusted by something so trivial. However, I understand that people develop opinions, and/or can be come jaded to certain things. I do strongly believe people who are so upset by this aren't really thinking it through all the way. I can somewhat sympathize, but in the end. There are reasons why online only can be better. There could be coding issues, things that get run server side, the world areas not being easily translated for offline. Having save files on the user side could potentially make hacking easier "even if only offline were on the user side" etc. etc. I don't know.

What I do know, is that in my opinion, the world we live in where basically everyone always has a connection. The incredibly small quantity of people that aren't and still have a computer/console plus the time internet can be down for anyone that is connected, is so infinitely small..that it quite literally isn't a big deal.

[GaboonViper]

F**k you Blizzard.

[Ristul]

Guess there will be no single player this time around. Well, I had no intention to support this company anyway, this just makes it even more clear.

[CorndogBurglar]

Online only and no single player are two different things entirely. Just because you need to be online doesn't mean you can't play solo.

[Ristul]

CorndogBurglar: true, but the fact that the content is not available offline makes it a hard pass for me.

[Tross]

Agreed. I would have been far more conflicted as I love this series, but thanks to it being online-only it's now an easy pass.

@CorndogBurglar But there's zero reason why singleplayer content should require an online connection to work. Clearly the game isn't meant to be played solo.

[BLizardXD]

"F**k you Blizzard."

..... :O

[masterfox]

wow an RPG that you need internet all the time ?, that's actually pretty horrible.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Diablo is a multiplayer focused game. Diablo 3 needs constant connection too.

Who cares?

Can’t wait for Diablo 4.

[Muzikguy]

Who cares? Lol..... I can see where that's going. It's hard for many to think about why others feel the way they do about something...

[Ristul]

Diablo 3 on consoles could be played offline, so that is not accurate.

[Mr_Luke]

On my PS4 i played offline with couch co-op. So it's fake you must be always online. And since when it's a multiplayer focused game? Always played the first one alone, the second one too. And the third one as well, besides the times i was with my girlfriend and she wanted to play too.
This said, no Diablo 4 for me, there are so many games to play anyway around.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Wrong. Diablo 3 can be played offline on consoles. AND can be played alone.

Do your research next time.

[MWH]

Do you realize that there are other people on this planet? Who cares, right?

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

I primarily play on PC so don’t care about consoles versions of PC games. Diablo started on PC.

Don’t buy it if constant online is a problem for you.

Destiny, WoW, Division all online only games. You just gonna have to deal with it.

Don’t care if you the small minority of antisocial A holes don’t buy a multiplayer first game.

[william_cade]

Diablo 3 was an anomaly like Immortal.

[rainslacker]

SimCity was a SP focused game. In fact, there was no real MP where you play with another person. yet, the last release required online so you could connect to other people's cities...regardless of if you wanted to use that feature or not.

The last Sims game...same deal. It had MP portions where you could connect to other players, but it also had a strong SP component, but it required a connection at all times.

Diablo is indeed a MP focused game, but it also has a strong solo component, so why should it require an online connection to play that part of the game?

Nothing wrong with having to connect for MP features, but the issue comes in when that's required for SP play.

[Hungryalpaca]

Who cares? Lots of people. I couldn’t play Diablo 3 on my laptop while taking train rides cross country. Couldn’t play it went my internet went out. Why you people are defending this shit is beyond me.

[isarai]

Pass.

[PhoenixUp]

Seems like they haven’t learned their lesson the first time

[leemo19]

Guess I'll be getting it for console for sure than. Always online was one of the top reasons ppl didn't like D3 for PC. Though doubtful I hope they listen to the community and realize always online isn't they way to go.

[winter_hill]

The horrible bastards are making it online-only for console as well. https://www.gamespot.com/ar...

[Hardiman]

Pass!

[Giblet_Head]

As with Diablo 3, get ready for server issues spanning days after launch.

[GameStallion]

Of course it won’t because then they couldn’t control your loot and thus control you as much.

[IAreBeMrLee]

And just like that, I'm back out

Thank you for making that choice for me, Blizzard.

[Muzikguy]

Same here. That was a quick "hey I wonder if they'll actually do better this time" to "well, so much for that"

[Si-Fly]

You were never back in.

[Blu3_Berry]

Online DRM, I'm sure alot of people will sit well with this one.

[DarXyde]

I'm actually grateful to Blizzard for this stunt. If the sales reflect the sentiment seen here (that is, if it sells poorly, due to these restrictions) that is a huge industry hint to Sony and Microsoft to not make PS5 and Scarlett always online.

Keep making noise and boycotting, I say. I am more than happy to throw Blizzard under the bus and make an example of them that this is still an unfavorable position 6 years later.

[Tankbusta40]

Blizzard is an absolute joke...will probably be more like D3 crap and not 1&2

[Psychotica]

Hopefully..

[Hungryalpaca]

Diablo 3 is the worst in the series dude...

[l33t_haxx0r]

invasion of peoples worlds!!!!

[tontontam0]

Don't worry I think they will release a subscription service where you can have your own private world where you can play with your friends.

[victorMaje]

Is it possible to have 1 good reason why?

[pornflakes]

Good news if they will also delete / ban modded items, cheaters

[Mr_Luke]

Another game i WON'T buy. Good Blizzard doesn't care at all if i don't buy it, so everyone is happy.

[MasterCornholio]

What about those people in submarines?

In pretty sure there's plenty more examples of people without access to an internet connection.

[CorndogBurglar]

Cave spelunkers. I imagine they won't be able to connect whilst spelunking.

[MasterCornholio]

Well what about those stuck on a base in the middle East? It's not like the internet is easily accessible for them.

I wasn't joking BTW.

https://stackup.org/wp-cont...

Video games are a great way to bleed off stress in a deployed environment.

[Kostche]

if you play offline, they cannot sell you stuff or use their aglarithm to target you with specific deals and sales suited for you the consumer...

[BlaqMagiq1]

And with that they have lost a future sale with me. I was going to wait for the complete edition but unless they change this I won't be getting the game, period.

[CaptainObvious878]

Well I wasn't going to support these communist supporting, hypocritical political speech censoring unless it's unless anything to do with feminism or lgtb issues, hacks, and was worries I'd miss out on a good game.

But now I don't need to worry anymore.

[bluebenjamin]

They just want to track what you are doing

[Hungryalpaca]

Sounds just like China

[bluebenjamin]

The whole world with the movement Alll world leaders

[RedDevils]

From.want to give Blizzard a second chance to never will trust again.

[gold_drake]

that sucks. i usually play offline when i have friends over, not to mention when i wanna download something while playing

[Smokehouse]

What? You guys don’t have internet?

[titans9999]

Fuck you Blizzard, I will NOT be buying this always on line bullshit, you fucked up again assholes!

[NickAwesome]

This sucks, i hate always online games! (especially the single player ones)

[WeedyOne]

People are over reacting to this hard lol. It's only online so that people cant hack items, fools!

Yes you can play offline on console in d3 but d3 on consoles also has many hacked items wheras the pc version is always online and has no hacked items. You all understand now?

The game will still be playable solo the online only is purely for anti hacking.

[Ristul]

Then have two modes, an online mode and a single player mode, they have done so before.

[titans9999]

Weedy, but here’s the problem, even in single player they will be requiring an online connection, so as I said before FUCK BLIZZARD!!!!

[DrShoe]

Blizzard, you've saved me money: pass!

[MikePWV]

All you idiots crying about the game being online only stfu. This isn't the first game that's been online only for consoles and it won't be the last. Diablo 3 was ruined on consoles by the simple fact they allowed offline play and people were able to modify items.

[titans9999]

Mike, you’ll buy any shit that’ll rip you off! People like you are why this fucking shit exists....

[MikePWV]

How are they ripping me off? Normally a game shouldn't be online required but this is one that should because it was ruined by hackers due to offline play. I feel I'm wasting money to play a game with hackers.

[william_cade]

D3 was ruined when they made it look like WoW.

[Hungryalpaca]

Yes because playing singleplayer should be tied to the internet. What is wrong with you?

[SkatterBrain]

Not Buying then , thanks for letting me know

[ajax17]

Online only... Yeah, because that always works out well... Fucking morons keep shooting themselves

[TargusX]

Not... again. Wtf is wrong with these companies??

[jonesmiller04101]

Pass for me. Blizzard bowing down to foreign powers for money... No thank you

[william_cade]

That really sucks. Have fun with your D4 twitch streamers.

[Tross]

While I did spend years playing Diablo II online, and a brief stint with Diablo III, I would have been mostly interested in this for its story content at this point of time as my MMO days are long since over. If I can't enjoy the game offline though it will be an easy pass for me.

[ActualWhiteMan]

Diablo 3 had offline playability.

[MikePWV]

Only for console and it ruined the game because of it.

[Hungryalpaca]

Stop spreading that bullshit. How much does blizzard pay you?

[MikePWV]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Ripsta7th]

Imagine getting fired or laid off, and u gotta make ends meet so u have to cancel your internet for a while. No more diablo 4

[Rekkr]

Pass!

[formanbradley]

Old excuse: You guys don't have a cell phones?

New excuse: You guys don't have the internet?

[CaptainOmega]

Ooooo. Not buying it

[Hungryalpaca]

Thanks for making my purchase easy Blizzard! I’ll spend my money elsewhere.

[Homushi]

Why's everyone moaning about always online? When are we not ever online? I know every time I fire up my switch, PC, Phone, PS4, I am always connecting to my wifi at home and I have internet wherever I go.

As a matter of fact, I hate being offline, and prefer to be connected and online as it provides a better experience when I can receive updates on who's online and so I can play with people.

Always online is here and it is the future.

PS: stop moaning about Hong Kong or whatever, most of that stuff doesn't affect you and blizz isn't gonna ban u from game unless you engage in behavior against terms of use.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

I torrented StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and the 2 others after that. I own all 3 and they work fine don't care about multiplayer for Starcraft and Blizzard won't get a dime from me.

[Cobra951]

No offline mode = no money from me. In fact, I don't want it on my system, even if someone gifts it to me.

[windblowsagain]

who the fk plays local co-op at home.

cash grab.