With Blizzard in the midst of high profile lawsuits and reports of both a toxic and sexist culture, it was revealed that Diablo 4's game director Luis Barriga and lead designer Jesse McCree had left the studio back in August. With things shaky to say the least the latest Quarterly Update on Diablo 4 confirms that the new game director is studio and franchise veteran Joe Shely.

Who writes.

I’m honored to continue the vision of Diablo IV as its new Game Director, and I’m humbled to represent the team pouring their hearts into this game.

Like many of you, our team has been reflecting upon recent events. A lot has happened since our last blog and the hard work of practicing the values we aspire to must continue. In parallel with that important work, development of Diablo IV continues too.

Joe Shely, who has previously worked on World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 has been with the Diablo 4 team for a number of years now -- focusing on the combat side of the experience. In terms of the vision for the long-awaited game he adds, "Sanctuary should always be items glittering in dark dungeons. Tales of powerful heroes standing against the onslaught of hell. Lands where trials, treasure, and terrible monsters lie around every corner, equal parts familiar and boundless in its possibilities. Doing this world justice is a solemn responsibility."

And with that the latest Quarterly Update focuses on sound design, which Joe Shely notes is "a sometimes underappreciated yet integral element of the game's design, serving as a channel for communicating everything from incoming damage, to confirmation that a button press was registered by the game, to the intensity of a combat sequence".

What follows is a pretty extensive and fascinating look at how sound effects are put into the games we play, with Kris Giampa, Sound Supervisor for Diablo IV, outlining the extent that the teams at Blizzard go to.

Here's a look at recording some of the more gruesome sounds you hear by using various foods.



And here's a look at recording various combat effects for the Sorcerer skills Firebolt and Inferno.



With Diablo 4's action taking place on a massive open world Sanctuary the team is implementing something it calls "Living Audio", dynamic ambient sound that changes based on the environment. "Because of the importance of the massive open world, we wanted to give the ambience as much detail as possible and think of it on the same level of Hero sound design," writes Kris Giampa. "Having the audio and the systems changing subtly over time is key to this pillar. We always want the subtle changes in ambience (that might not be very noticeable) less repeatable and feel more natural and immersive overall."



Diablo 4 currently has no release date or window, but rumours are suggesting that a 2022 release is on the cards.