Blizzard names 2029 for Diablo 5 and 2030 for a StarCraft shooter. Xbox is cutting 1,600 more jobs over the next year.

The stories

12 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   Blizzard names 2029 for Diablo 5 and 2030 for a StarCraft shooter. Xbox is cutting 1,600 more jobs over the next year.

   2029

   the spring Diablo 5 is due to come out

   only six years after the last one; the wait before that was eleven [2]

   2030

   the year the new StarCraft shooter is due

   no brand-new game in the series has come out since 2015 [6]

   1,600

   more Xbox jobs due to be cut over the next year

   Blizzard has so far avoided Microsoft's recent cuts [2][1]

   4 years

   from Diablo 4's reveal in 2019 to its release in 2023

   it was first meant to take about three [1]

   What happened

   • Blizzard, the studio behind World of Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft, opened BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, on 12 September. [13][6]
   • Blizzard is owned by Xbox, part of Microsoft, and this was its first BlizzCon since 2023. [1][10]
   • Blizzard showed Diablo 5 and gave it a date: spring 2029. [3][1]
   • Diablo 5 is set a century after Diablo 4, in a world Diablo himself has wrecked.
   • Players lead a travelling group of survivors instead of visiting towns. [3][8]
   • Blizzard also announced a new StarCraft, due in 2030. [4][5]
   • It is an open-world shooter about one soldier, not the strategy game the series is known for. [5][7]
   • The last brand-new StarCraft game came out in 2015.
   • The crowd in the hall did not sound pleased when Blizzard said open-world shooter. [6]
   • Blizzard's president, Johanna Faries, told Bloomberg the dates show Blizzard will ship big and ship on time. [1][2]
   • StarCraft's lead, Dan Hay, said a fixed date gives his team a target and keeps it honest. [7]
   • Blizzard's own record shows the risk.
   • Diablo 4 was announced in 2019 for about three years later, and came out in 2023. [1]
   • Blizzard has so far avoided Microsoft's recent job cuts.
   • About 1,600 more Xbox jobs are due to go over the next year. [2][1]
   • Diablo 4's next class, the Amazon, comes as a pack sold on its own in the first half of 2027.
   • Blizzard once promised Diablo 4 a new expansion every year, and that did not happen.
   • The latest one, Lord of Hatred, came out in April. [8][12][11]

   Who is involved

   • Johanna Faries president of Blizzard; she says the early dates show Blizzard will ship on time
   • Dan Hay head of StarCraft at Blizzard, who used to run Ubisoft's Far Cry games; he leads the new shooter
   • Blizzard the American studio behind World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and StarCraft; owned by Microsoft's Xbox
   • Xbox Microsoft's games business, which owns Blizzard; it plans about 1,600 more job cuts over the next year

   How it unfolded

   1. 1998 The first StarCraft, a strategy game, comes out [5]
   2. 2015 The last brand-new StarCraft game, Legacy of the Void [6]
   3. 2019 Diablo 4 is announced at BlizzCon [1]
   4. 2023 Diablo 4 comes out after a delay [1]
   5. 12 Sept 2026 BlizzCon opens; Diablo 5 and StarCraft get dates [6][3]
   6. 2029 and 2030 Diablo 5 due in spring 2029, StarCraft in 2030 [3][5]

   Why it matters

   The next test is whether Blizzard keeps both dates while Xbox cuts about 1,600 jobs over the next year. [1][2]

   The truth

   • What is really going on Blizzard, which Xbox owns, put a 2029 date on Diablo 5 and a 2030 date on a new StarCraft at its own show, while Xbox plans about 1,600 more job cuts over the next year. [1][3][4]Blizzard's president says the dates show the studio ships on time. [1]PC Gamer says a long list of games in the works is also a way to show Blizzard needs every member of staff it has. [2]
   • Why it works on people A year printed at the end of a trailer feels like a promise, even though Blizzard's last Diablo arrived about a year later than first planned. [1]
   • Who gains Blizzard's leaders — Dates years ahead let them show Microsoft a full list of big games at a time Xbox is cutting jobs. [2][1]
   • Who pays Xbox staff — About 1,600 more jobs are due to go over the next year. [1]
   • Who pays StarCraft strategy fans — The first brand-new StarCraft since 2015 is a shooter, and it is not due until 2030. [6][5]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Diablo 5 and the new StarCraft keep their dates.

     Neither game has shown any real play yet, and Diablo 4 slipped from its first target to 2023. [1][6]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Blizzard is spared the next round of Xbox job cuts.

     Blizzard avoided Microsoft's recent cuts, but nobody has said which studios the next 1,600 cuts will reach. [2][1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Nexon gets to make its own StarCraft game.

     The only word is a report that Nexon, a big Korean publisher, is seeking the StarCraft licence. [6][12]

1. 02

   PlayStation buyers wait on a judge

   What happened

   • Sony has agreed to pay $7.85 million to settle a US class action over its PlayStation Store. [16]
   • Until April 2019, shops like Amazon and GameStop sold download codes for PlayStation games and could sell them for less than the PlayStation Store charged. [16]
   • Sony stopped supplying those codes, and buyers sued in 2021, saying its store became the only place to buy. [16]
   • More than 4.4 million US accounts qualify, and credit goes into them only if a judge approves the deal after a hearing on 15 October. [16]

   Why it matters

   The lead lawyer expects each account to get between 91 cents and $33.66, paid as store credit. [16]

   Sony admits nothing, and its store stays the only seller of digital PlayStation games. [16]

   How it works

   Why game companies now put on their own shows

   A company at its own show chooses what the crowd sees and hears, so the crowd's complaints have only one company to go to.

   The twist

   Blizzard chose every word of BlizzCon's opening show. It could not choose how the crowd took the news that StarCraft is now a shooter, and with no rival on the stage, that reaction was about Blizzard alone.

   Step by step

   1. 1 A game company can show its games at a shared show, or at a show it runs itself
   2. 2 At a shared show, rivals stand in the next booth and split the crowd's attention
   3. 3 At its own show, the company picks the date, the running order and every word said on stage
   4. 4 Everyone watching came for that one company
   5. 5 So when the crowd dislikes something, the complaint goes to that company and nobody else

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • Sony, Nintendo and Xbox skip PAX West

     The three console makers stayed off the shared floor in Seattle, and Nintendo held its own online Direct the next day.

   • Level-5 apologises for AI in its showcase

     Level-5 announced its comeback at its own online event, so when fans spotted AI-made footage the complaints went straight to its chief executive, who apologised himself.

   • PlayStation buyers wait on a judge

     Sony stopped shops selling its download codes, which made its own store the only seller, so buyers who felt overcharged had only Sony to sue.

   Where you've seen this

   Bands selling their own tickets

   a band that sells tickets directly keeps the booking fee, and hears every complaint when the website crashes

   Phone launches

   a phone maker that holds its own launch event picks the day and the message, and every reaction to the price is about it

   A shop leaving a shopping centre

   it stops sharing rent and rules with its neighbours, and stops getting the shoppers who came for the shop next door

   The catch

   This only works for a company big enough to fill a hall or a live stream on its own; a small studio at its own show may find nobody watching.

   And the whole of it

   Blizzard's staff are waiting on Xbox's next round of job cuts, fans waited three years for this BlizzCon, and visitors to PAX West walked a floor with fewer games on it. A viewer at home meets a new game the way its maker chose to show it, with no rival's game shown beside it.

   The truth

   • Who gains Sony — It settles for $7.85 million paid as credit to spend in its own store, and stays the only seller of digital PlayStation games. [16]
   • Who pays PlayStation buyers since 2019 — Lawyers can ask for up to 25% of the fund, and the rest arrives as store credit worth between 91 cents and $33.66 per account. [16]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How much each PlayStation buyer actually gets.

     The lead lawyer gives a range of 91 cents to $33.66 in store credit, and nothing is paid until a judge rules after the 15 October hearing. [16]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether PlayStation games cost more because shops lost the download codes.

     Sony settled without admitting it, so no US court has decided. A separate $2.7 billion case at a UK competition court, for about 12 million people, is still waiting for a judgment. [16]

1. 03

   Intel processors expected to cost 10% more

   What happened

   • Intel is expected to raise the price of its processors, the main chip in a computer, by another 10% from 5 October. [17]
   • The report comes from supply-chain sources who spoke to DigiTimes, a Taiwanese trade paper. [17]
   • It is not yet clear which processors are affected. [17]
   • Processor prices have climbed since the end of 2025, partly because circuit boards cost more and memory chips are short. [17]
   • The same sources say Intel may cut 5 to 10% of its staff, leaving about 70,000 people. [17]

   Why it matters

   Anyone building or upgrading a gaming PC pays this on top of rising graphics card prices. [18]

   It follows a report last month that desktop processor sales from Intel and AMD had slumped. [17]

   The truth

   • Who pays People building or upgrading a gaming PC — Intel processors are reported to rise 10% from 5 October, and graphics cards are rising again in China. [17][18]
2. 04

   Graphics cards cost more in China, again

   What happened

   • Makers of graphics cards, the part of a PC that draws a game's pictures, are raising prices in mainland China again this month. [18]
   • Taiwan's United Daily News reports that Asus will add 150 to 300 yuan, about $22 to $45, to its RTX 5070 cards. [18]
   • Gigabyte has already added 200 yuan to one Nvidia card, and AMD has raised several of its own. [18]
   • PC Gamer links this to the memory chip shortage, and to Nvidia cutting its forecast for gaming card shipments by 15 to 20%. [18]

   Why it matters

   PC Gamer says the rises in China could carry over to prices elsewhere. [18]

   PC Gamer thinks Nvidia may be moving production toward AI chips, whose business made $89 billion last quarter, though it says the full picture is less clear. [18]

   The truth

   • Who gains Nvidia — Its data-centre business made $89 billion last quarter, and PC Gamer suggests it is moving production toward AI chips as gaming card prices rise. [18]
3. 05

   A Neo Geo remake waits a year for memory chips

   What happened

   • The Neo Geo AES+, a modern remake of SNK's classic Neo Geo home console, will now ship on 16 September 2027 instead of this November. [19]
   • Plaion Replai, which makes it under licence from SNK, blamed a worldwide shortage of memory chips driven by spending on AI. [19]
   • The company said it would rather wait for enough parts than launch with very few consoles. [19]
   • The price stays at $250, or $350 for an all-white anniversary edition. [19]

   Why it matters

   People who pre-ordered keep their place in the queue, but wait ten months longer. [19]

   It is the same shortage pushing up the price of PC parts in the two stories above. [17][18]

   The truth

   • Who pays Neo Geo AES+ pre-order buyers — They now wait until 16 September 2027 instead of this November. [19]
   • Nobody knows yet

     When memory chip prices stop rising.

     Plaion Replai gave itself ten more months to find chips, and the Intel rise is a supply-chain report that does not yet say which processors it covers. [19][17]

4. 06

   Diablo becomes a Netflix cartoon

   What happened

   • Blizzard's president Johanna Faries announced at BlizzCon that an animated Diablo series is being made with Netflix. [15]
   • There is no release date yet, and no animation studio has been named. [15]
   • Faries said Blizzard plans to adapt more of its games. [9]
   • In July, Xbox's chief executive Asha Sharma set out plans to take Xbox's games into film, television and merchandise. [15]

   Why it matters

   Kotaku links the plan to the success of Amazon's Fallout series, which is based on a game. [15]

   The show gives Diablo a way to reach people while Diablo 5 is still years away. [3]

   The truth

   • Who gains Netflix — It gets an animated Diablo series, part of Xbox's plan to take its games into film and television. [15]
5. 07

   Level-5 apologises for AI in its showcase

   What happened

   • Level-5, the Japanese studio behind Professor Layton and Yo-kai Watch, used AI in the footage for its latest digital showcase. [20]
   • One fan wrote on X that they had been excited about Level-5's comeback until they saw how much AI it used. [20]
   • Chief executive Akihiro Hino apologised on 12 September and said it was done to make the show more spectacular. [20]
   • He said the stories, characters and settings in released games are all made by people. [20]

   Why it matters

   Hino said Level-5 is using AI to cut the time it takes to make a game from five years to two. [20]

   Eurogamer notes that Krafton, Square Enix and EA have also invested heavily in AI. [20]

   How it works

   Level-5 announced its comeback at its own online event, so when fans spotted AI-made footage the complaints went straight to its chief executive, who apologised himself.

   The idea, in story 02: Why game companies now put on their own shows →

   The truth

   • Nobody knows yet

     How much of Level-5's new games was made with AI.

     Its chief executive says the stories, characters and settings are made by people, but the games are not out, so nobody outside can check. [20]

6. 08

   Sony, Nintendo and Xbox skip PAX West

   What happened

   • PAX West, a big fan convention in Seattle, ran this month with Sony, Nintendo and Xbox all absent from the show floor. [21]
   • Kotaku's reporter found fewer games, fewer big publisher booths and more space for merchandise than at past shows. [21]
   • Japanese publishers including Bandai Namco, Sega and Konami still came. [21]
   • The most visible game was Pikmin Bloom, a five-year-old walking game now run by Scopely, which covered Seattle's buses and train stations in ads. [21]

   Why it matters

   Nintendo's absence stood out because its US headquarters is close by. [21]

   Its own online showcase, a Direct, came the day after Kotaku's report. [21]

   How it works

   The three console makers stayed off the shared floor in Seattle, and Nintendo held its own online Direct the next day.

   The idea, in story 02: Why game companies now put on their own shows →
7. 09

   Heroes of the Storm gets a new hero

   What happened

   • Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard's team battle game, is getting a new hero after four years without major updates. [14]
   • Kotaku says Blizzard put the game into sleep mode in 2022: the servers stayed on, but only small fixes followed. [14]
   • The new hero, Xal'atath, a villain from World of Warcraft, goes to a test server first and launches on 28 September. [14]
   • On stage, Faries thanked players for sticking with the game and hinted that another hero may follow. [14]

   Why it matters

   Players who kept the game going for four years without major updates get a new hero to play. [14]

   Blizzard has not promised a return to regular updates. [14]

   Good news

   • Heroes of the Storm had no major update for four years. Its players get a new hero, Xal'atath, on 28 September.
8. 10

   Company of Heroes turns 20 at an independent Relic

   What happened

   • Company of Heroes, a Second World War strategy game, turns 20 this year, and PC Gamer visited its maker, Relic Entertainment, in Vancouver. [23]
   • After Company of Heroes 3 had a rough launch, Relic lost a large share of its staff in layoffs in 2023 and 2024. [23]
   • It has since split from Sega, the Japanese publisher it worked with, and runs on its own. [23]
   • Last month it released Final Stand, a new mode where players hold off waves of enemies. [23]

   Why it matters

   Relic turned down Dawn of War 4, from its own older series, because it had no spare people; German studio King Art Games is making it. [23]

   Chief executive Justin Dowdeswell said Relic took on more than it could finish in time with Company of Heroes 3. [23]

   The truth

   • Who pays Relic's former staff — Two rounds of layoffs in 2023 and 2024 took a large share of the studio. [23]

   Good news

   • Relic lost a large share of its staff in 2023 and 2024. It is independent again, and last month it released a new mode for Company of Heroes, which turns 20 this year.
9. 11

   Most Dawnwalker players had played The Witcher 3

   What happened

   • Almost 58% of people playing The Blood of Dawnwalker have also played The Witcher 3, according to Alinea Analytics, a firm that estimates game sales from outside. [22]
   • Rebel Wolves, the Polish studio that made Dawnwalker, is made up of many former Witcher developers. [22]
   • The game sold over a million copies in its first three days, and Alinea puts about 410,000 of those on Steam. [22]
   • Poland is its second-biggest market on Steam, with 11% of players, behind the US at 34%. [22]

   Why it matters

   More than half of the new studio's buyers already knew its developers' last big game. [22]

   Alinea also found that 9% of Dawnwalker players had played Capcom's Onimusha: Way of the Sword. [22]

   The truth

   • Who gains Rebel Wolves — Its game sold to people who already knew its developers' earlier work: almost 58% of its players had played The Witcher 3. [22]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Alinea's Dawnwalker figures are right.

     They are estimates made from outside the company, and Rebel Wolves has published only a total of copies sold. [22]

10. 12

    Fallout's co-creator says the cuts will pass, and come back

    What happened

    • Tim Cain, who co-created the original Fallout, posted a video last week on why the games industry is losing so many jobs. [24]
    • He named three causes: a correction after heavy investment during Covid, hardware costs pushed up by AI data centres, and investors moving money out of games. [24]
    • He said this bad period will pass and new ones will follow. [24]
    • He pointed to the 1983 crash of the US games business to show it is not new. [24]

    Why it matters

    Cain told younger developers that expecting a stable 30-year career in games was a mistake. [24]

    PC Gamer points to Blizzard workers' first union contract as one attempt to change those conditions. [24]