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4w ago

Blizzard Says Diablo 4’s Lord of Hatred Began Before Launch, With Features Shipped Early

Steam data shows a player surge with low campaign completion.

If you're part of the 92% of Diablo 4 players who haven't completed Lord of Hatred: lock in
Diablo 4 review screenshots from gameplay
Diablo 4 has tripped over its own ambitions at times, but there's still so much vast untapped potential here.

Overview

  • Associate game director Zaven Haroutunian said Lord of Hatred had been in development since before Diablo 4’s 2023 release.
  • Haroutunian said prototypes were moved into the live game ahead of the expansion, including the Infernal Hordes endgame mode.
  • The expansion drew strong reviews as a broad systems overhaul with new classes, the Skovos Isles region, and tools like Talismans and the Horadric Cube.
  • A first post-launch patch addressed early issues by weakening an overpowered Butcher, improving charm drops, and fixing a transmutation exploit.
  • On Steam, players rose from about 5,500 to a 64,000 peak before settling near 44,000, while only 8.1% have finished the campaign and the figure covers Steam only for a $40 add-on.