A decent amount of Diablo 4 footage has been leaked on an online stream. The curious circumstances leading to its reveal imply that it was definitely not supposed to be shown.
A Redditor found the footage still with an ID number and the words Private Test Build all over it. This information would make it easy for Blizzard and/or Microsoft Game Studios to trace where the leak came from and who was involved.
One five-minute clip and a longer 38-minute clip came from this leak, which doesn’t really have anything as interesting as the Grand Theft Auto VI leak that just preceded it. That’s because Diablo 4 is well into development, and Blizzard has already shared gameplay footage alongside many other details. Thankfully, it isn’t likely that this leak will have any adverse effect on the game’s development.
The footage also has audio of people talking over it, who seem to have been watching someone else stream the footage and not playing it themselves. It seems the prevailing theory is that this footage was first leaked on Discord, with that Discord footage being recorded live by someone watching the stream. At one point, the people talking point out that they do not know the streamer. As for the original source of the leak, it may have been the case that it was taken from the companies’ family and friends alpha, which is a program that may no longer be getting continued after this.
To be clear, if the leaker was an industry insider, they would have at least taken steps to make it harder for the companies involved to trace the leak back to them, including protecting the identities of their sources who work within the company. It seems likely that a friend or family member perpetrated this leak, as opposed to someone who would have wanted to be known as an industry insider willing to tease or leak games and game industry announcements.
On the flip side, some leaks are made within the industry by the video games press. Working within the range of certain standards and practices, such leaks and reveals are planned. They may decide to disclose private information because of the public’s need to know. In other cases, they plan these reveals so that they would not adversely affect the development and release of certain video games. It’s popular to ask industry professionals about old projects as well as canceled games, but this can also be the case for games still in development.
As for this leak, the actual footage isn’t that interesting in itself. That a leak happened at all, is more important for Blizzard and Microsoft Game Studios, to prompt them to secure their remote work arrangements before this game finishes development, and for future projects.
Diablo 4 is slated for a 2023 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows, as confirmed by Microsoft Game Studios themselves.
Source: VideoGamesChronicle
