
When Diablo III Eternal Collection was revealed for the Switch, fans of both Blizzard and Nintendo were rather pleased to see the two companies joining forces after a long hiatus.
In an interview with Game Informer, Blizzard associate producer Matthew Cederquist revealed how the idea came about and how exactly Nintendo reacted when it found out Blizzard wanted to release its demon slaying game on the Switch.
The Switch came out and we were all playing it...Some of us were playing Mario and some of us were playing Zelda, and we were kind of thinking to ourselves, ‘We’ve got a pretty good game for this.’ We all travel a lot and we were sitting on a plane and thinking, “We’ve got the perfect game for the Switch.’ So we brought the pitch to Nintendo and they said, ‘What have you guys been waiting for?’ They were pumped. They were as excited as us.
He went on to explain how most of the work had taken place a few years earlier during the development of the original console ports:
“We did most of the work a few years ago when we moved the game to PlayStation, so, by-and-large, thousands of hours have already been spent getting this right for console,” says senior producer Pete Stilwell. “Where we did spend time playtesting and iterating on the game was with the joy-cons. Individual joy-cons have fewer buttons, so we replaced the second joystick’s roll with the joy-con’s flick.”
Having previously heard Blizzard senior producer Pete Stilwell explain Overwatch was feasible, and ruling StarCraft out completely on the Switch, Cederquist revealed a bit more when asked about the possibility of other Blizzard games coming to Nintendo's device in the future:
We’re focused on D3. That’s where we’re at. One thing that I think is really awesome about Blizzard is that each team is very autonomous and gets to play in their part of the pool and decide what they want to do. Sometimes that means other teams don’t have that much transparency. Our team is really excited about the Switch and what we’ve accomplished on it, but we can’t speak for other teams.
Are you excited as Nintendo about Diablo III Eternal Collection coming to the Nintendo Switch? Would you like to see Blizzard bring across more of its game to the hybrid platform eventually? Tell us below.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 57
I am not that excited about Diablo, though I probably will try it. I'd much rather get Hearthstone and Overwatch.
I'm just happy to see Blizzard finally returning to Nintendo consoles! Agree with @Heavyarms55, Hearthstone seems like a perfect fit for Switch.
Never been into Diablo but am really happy for you guys who enjoy it.
I'm pumped as well! BRING IT ON!!
Got Diablo III preordered and looking forward to seeing more support from Blizzard!
Played the heck out of the original Diablo on my Windows 95 PC way back when. Not super interested in this but my brother and cousin love it and are trying to make me buy it for multiplayer.
No Starcraft then give us Warcraft. Or a new RTS and named it Switchcraft.
I've always wanted to play Diablo but I've never had a PC and didn't get round to it on the PlayStation. I'm so glad it's coming to the Switch. There's something about playing games on a handheld device that makes it all the more magical for me.
Too much games to play, so I have to pass sadly.
I’m looking forward to this. I might have to wait until after Christmas since my wife starts the pre-Christmas game buying embargo in mid October.
Top of my switch list since the console dropped. Nuff said.
I'll have to put it off until next year, because I have gifts to buy. But I'll definitely be getting it for that sweet sweet local coop.
They were pumped for a 6 year old game coming to switch?! That's funny!
Back in the day when they were known as Silicon & Synapse, Blizzard made some fantastic games for the SNES (published by Interplay) like The Lost Vikings, Clay Fighter, and Rock N' Roll Racing. I'd pay real money for them to dig into their old "vault" and bring these franchises back to the Switch and/or other consoles. Even HD remasters of the original classics would be awesome.
@Heavyarms55 Hearthstone seems like a perfect match for the Switch.
Blizzard makes great games so I'm happy to see them return to a Nintendo platform.
@Balchad The world needs FAR more of your attitude, toward basically everything.
Bring on Overwatch! Haha
I would rather have D1 and D2 😋
Not that I think RTS will be good an Switch since RTS are best played with Keyboard and mouse. But I would rather see starcraft and Warcraft on the console than D3
I know PS4 has no Battle.net support (shut up, it's Battle.net, not "BlizzardApp"), but that's Sony, the no-crossplay company. Do you think linking accounts on Switch is feasible?
Also this angel dude made me realize that GW's Sigmarines could be saved by replacing their stupid heads with hooded ones. Maybe even empty-hooded like him.
I was pumped until they said Nintendo voice chat app. Instead of native.
I'm buying it. I find myself wondering how this compares to the upcoming viktor vran game. Or are they not at all similar?
Pretty awesome game for those that haven't played it. I have played it to death so it would take quite a discount for me to considering dipping into this game again. Still have a lot of good memories from this one though. Very well made game after all the updates they have released over the years.
@jtmnm where preordered? i cant preorder it in eshop.
@xpromisedx US? Link: https://www.amazon.com/Diablo-3-Eternal-Collection-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B07GKCMV6Y?th=1
@Heavyarms55 Hearthstone is a real cash grab like all TCG games. Played Magic The Gathering for years and it just became to expensive to stay competitive and play in tournaments. So stopped. Lets not even talk about Pokémon TCG and the rate of expansions they launch there.
The problem with the digital TCG games like Hearthstone is that they are even harder on your wallet if you want to be competitive.
So I rather see Diablo 3 and Overwatch coming to the Switch.
Diablo 3 is now already coming, so I hope Overwatch will be next.
Oke... I havent played it before and never watched it.
did i saw ganondorf in the switch gameplay video? Or does he just look like ganondorf?
but seeing it in action i understand why it fits just perfectly on the switch and i am definitely interested in buying the game. Hoping for a sequel in the future on switch.
@GameOtaku
How is that funny. It's a portable system where most of the best suited games will be PS3/360 era games. Not to mention, games like Diablo, Skyrim, GTA... these games transcend time. Doesn't have to have released yesterday. These games will sell indefinitely until a newer entry releases, as long as they're on a currently supported system (hence why games are perpetually ported to PS4, X1 and Switch).
Gamers are excited for it, why wouldn't they be too? Even the development team is excited for it. Seems the only people not excited for it are random internet plebs who take jabs at every Switch game to date. If its not the framerate it's the res, if it's not the res its the price, if it's not the price its "X years old". Nobody cares. Gamers just want to play great games, and this newly found portable system is resurrecting classic after classic as they migrate to the first ever portable hybrid version ever released.
Remember when Borderland 2 came to Vita? Was it a brand new game? No. Did anyone care? No. Because portable gaming has a separate standard, and given how it takes the tech X amount of years to catch up to consoles, its exciting to see previously released games come to a handheld platform.
If it was a normal console, THEN I would question the excitement. But it's not. It's a handheld. And you better believe its exciting seeing Diablo 3 run on it.
I'm super pumped for D3. I have not played it and will be picking it up. I'm happy to see them back on a Nintendo platform, since I'm probably one of the few that have StarCraft on the N64 still and loved it then even if not the easiest to control.
Diablo III is one of the top 10 best selling video games of all time with over 30 million units total sales. Why not get pumped up getting it for the Switch?
Isn't the plural of Joy-con spelled Joy-con? Just like amiibo can already be plural.
@Jeronan Hearthstone is a hell of a lot cheaper than Pokemon or magic. You can basically buy the entire expansion for less than a single booster box of Pokemon or Magic TCG cards.
Competitive card games need regular expansions to stay interesting. Formats become stale and eventually the game loses the interest of it's players with adding new cards and rotations phasing out older ones. And they need standard formats so you don't end up with the nonsense you get in something like Magic's "Legacy" with certain cards going for several hundred dollars or more because they nearly break the game and will never be reprinted.
I can understand not being excited for D3, if you've played it to death on PC or even the other consoles at this point you are probably sick of the game. Personally to me this game was never quite as good as diablo 2.
@JaxonH You know, after all the hype of Borderlands 2, I'm just not getting it. I tried to start playing it again over the weekend and I still find it obscenely boring. Endless, drawn out gunfights with really bad gunplay. I know it's an RPG, but you spend too much time tolerating bad, repetitive gunplay to enjoy the RPG. Everyone seems to love it though!
@dougphisig D2 was just magic, and I can't quite figure out what made it magic (and neither can Blizzard.) In some ways I think "less is more". The environments just worked and wowed, the towns characters worked, and the story wasn't trying to be too grand, just chronicling Diablo's trek "always to the East." Though IMO D2 fell apart at Pandemonium.....I tend to just think of it as a 3-act game....Act 4 felt rushed and shoehorned. ToB made up for it though. D3 is technically a bigger game.But it's size gets in its way at times, and the story went off the rails. They tried to redo Kerrigan I think.
@Nincompoop It's not like they're doing anything meaningful with Warcraft anyway, heck, give us a Nintendo exclusive Warcraft.
Does anybody remember wen Warcraft was an RTS?
I can't WAIT for this game.
Being able to play on the portable will help a lot with the many, many hours the game takes to play through (and replay for loot, of course)
I always heard good things about Diablo, so I'm glad it coming to Switch, but have no idea if I'll partake in it yet.
I don't care much for this. Then again, I also wouldn't care much if all of Activision Blizzard's games came on the Switch.
All depends on how Diablo does on the switch. If a lot of you want overwatch, then Diablo would have to sell enough for that to happen.
@Jeronan That might be apt for other card games, but, Hearthstone is free. I played for quite a while, and never spent a penny, and I won tons of games. I never felt disadvantaged against anyone else. They make it pretty easy to get more cards for free (or did when I last played it), and single player expansions for free also, which unlock even more cards when you complete them. The act of gaining card packs for free was part of the fun, and I think paying for it would have taken something away from the experience.
@JaxonH
So I guess they were really pumped when Night Trap was announced for switch after 25 years. It may be "new" for Nintendo consoles but if Diablo 4 was announced exclusively for switch it would've been much more exciting news and be a well deserved reason to be pumped.
@GameOtaku
Well sure. Of course that would be much more exciting. But its not an either or situation. There are varying degrees, and a good game that's sold over 30 million and re-released on PS4/X1 just months prior and never before on a portable system... that's exciting. Nintendo wants good games that fit the system that gamers will be excited for. This is one of them. Blizzard is excited for it. Nintendo's excited for it. Gamers are excited for it.
What's the beef
@NEStalgia
I really like Borderlands 2. Gameplay is really good. Not a fan of the overbearing humor, but all in all it's a great game. Not exceptional but great
@NEStalgia
borderlands is definetly not boring, only hard to get into ,the main reason people bash it as boring, like all those people who said mass effect is a [removed] game, because people don't try to get past the first one and a half hour on the citadel.
you should have patience. its realy great and fun.
@JaxonH
Considering the problems plaguing the original release of the game we are certainly getting the better version. I'm not super excited or pumped about the game but I may look into it at some point.
(Right now the only huge announcement that will get me pumped is a Power Rangers 25th Anniversary game for Switch or Virtual Console.)
@PALversusNTSC Please mind your language!
@GameOtaku
I'd be down for some Metroid Prime Trilogy, and some Divinity Original Sin 2. At least we're getting Metroid Prime 4 and Pillars of Eternity 2 though. Good enough. (and Victor Vran this Tuesday alongside Monster Hunter, even though it hasn't been talked about much, it's a highly praised game)
@Octane
lol
in name of the holy triforce church, the oracle is speaking.
ok will keep it in mind:)
@JaxonH @PALversusNTSC Hmm, I don't know, I'll have to give it another go. I spent a few hours and after grinding and dying a dozen times trying to climb to get to Flynt and fighting wave after wave of bullet sponge enemies that never go down (after the misery of Boom & Bewm) and finally running out of ammo, I was so intensely frustrated and bored I just switched to Wildlands
@NEStalgia
i know how you feel, i had the same thing with borderlands. the trick is in the beginning of the game to tactical take out enemies to safe ammo. also break everything along to get money for upgrades.
once you have more then enough the game gets easier to play.
its like an rpg game with experience points.
if you get to fast from A to B you die of lack of experience points.
So I'm finishing my "Switch year" of gaming off with, Monster Hunter, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Dark Souls, Tales of Vesperia, Smash and Diablo 3. I'm completely happy with gaming right now. I still need to find time for Y's VIII. Anyone wanna trade me a copy for Wolfenstein 2? Lol
@PALversusNTSC the pacing must be off to some degree though. I did all quests in the first town, moved on, and at boom bewm i chipped away at it maybe 20 to 30 deaths.... Wearing them out little by little. So it cost me a fortune I'm respawn charges. Then finally went on and had to do the same with that climb to the dragon.... i rarely have such non fun experience with any game as much as that. Enemy waves just keep coming and coming.
I poured huge amounts of time into Diablo 1 and 2, but never tried 3, so I'll probably get this.
@AtlanteanMan would love to see a new Lost Vikings, have such fond memories of that game.
Would be day one if could sync with the pc. Probably will pass.
I love Diablo 3 and am pumped it is coming to Switch... but I think I will wait as I have it on PS4 and PC with SOOO many hours invested between the two. I don't know if I will be in a place to invest time in it this fall with so many other great titles coming out. I'll definitely grab it likely in the next six months though.
@th3r3ds0x Same, soo much time invested on PC and then again on PS4 makes me not too enthusiastic about starting over on Switch. I really want to pick it up, but with so many big games coming this Fall I don't see myself having time to reinvest all over again anytime soon.
@Nico07 yea I always end up starting over with the new season but I wouldn’t want two versions. I have a really tricked out gaming pc that I play on and the switch would be awesome to pick up and hit some Diablo on the go but I’d want to be able to work on the same characters. They said it may be something they add, if they do I’ll get it 100%, I’ve been a hardcore diablo fan since the first game. My friend and I used to connect to each other back in 97’ via modem and play together. Good times!
I am so excited for this game. I remember when SC64 came out and even though many people had negative comments on it, I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to support Blizzary by buying this title and playing local multi with my kids. Who knows, maybe Blizzard one day will release Overwatch on Switch.
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