Diablo II Remake Dev leaves it up to players to boycott or not

In an interview with Axios Gaming on September 17, the design director on the next Diablo II remake explained that people who are trying to decide whether to buy the game should “do what they think is right.” Many gamers do not want to support Activision Blizzard games after a recent lawsuit brought out gruesome stories and allegations of abuse and harassment primarily targeting women in the company.

Risen Diablo II is the first major release of Blizzard since damning lawsuit filed on July 20 by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after a multi-year investigation revealed stories of several women experiencing daily harassment and abuse while working at Activision Blizzard.

Risen Diablo II was announced in February 2021, pre-trial, and is developed by Vicarious Visions using original source code and gameplay from the classic action RPG first released by Blizzard in 2000. The studio was not specifically named in the trial. and has worked on non-Blizzard / Activision in the past, but the lawsuit and ensuing spinoff affected the team at Indirect visions.

“It was really, really unsettling to hear this stuff,” explained Design Director Rob Gallerani, “And we really wanted to support our colleagues and colleagues.”

The trial included horrific stories of abuse and after the trial became public, Kotaku learned of a hotel suite that was said to have been an alcohol-filled hangout where many would pose with an actual portrait of convicted rapist Bill Cosby while smiling.

Since these stories and reports surfaced, many senior Blizzard executives, past and present, have apologized, some leave the company, including Blizzard President J. Allen Brack. Games like World of warcraft and Monitoring also deleted the references and references to the persons named in the various claims and the lawsuit. And Activision himself appeared quick to hide his logo and company name when announcing the latest Call of Duty.

As a result of this and all the controversy, Gallerani said Axes that Vicarious Visions did a full body scrub of Risen Diablo II to see if any references, names or quests need to be removed or changed. According to him, nothing was found.

After the trial became public and stories of harassment and abuse continued to be shared online by women and men, many players found it difficult to buy or boycott the companies’ games.

Gallerani’s comments to Axes seem to leave the decision to the players.

In August, Kotaku contacted Blizzard and Activision employees about if they supported the fans who boycotted the next games. Some did not respond. Others did not want their comments to distract from the ABK Workers’ Alliance current demands.