Discord Instead of YouTube – This Choice is Already Sparking Outrage from the Community
They were a staple in the Diablo community: the Campfire Chats. These were livestreams on YouTube and Twitch where the Blizzard development team unveiled new content for upcoming seasons of the action role-playing game and responded to various questions from fans.
These Campfire Chats are now a thing of the past in their earlier format. Blizzard has since made this clear both officially in the forum and in an additional Discord post.
Farewell YouTube, Welcome Discord
Beginning with the announcement of the forthcoming Season 10 of Diablo 4, the so-called “Sanctuary Sitdowns” will serve as the main channel between developers and the community. This event will occur solely on Discord. Blizzard devs Aislyn Hall, Charles Dunn, and Ben Fletcher will be involved.
How the sitdown will function: It will be a large Discord audio chat where you can pose your questions. Blizzard has already indicated that due to time and logistical limitations, not all queries will be addressed.
Fans Are Split in Their Views
The feedback on the forum post linked above is varied. Some users embrace the transition to Discord as a core point of contact for all fan concerns, including developer interactions. Others are also unsettled by the previous quality of the Campfire livestreams. However, an equal number of fans reprimand Blizzard for this decision. One prominent critic is German Diablo streamer jessirocksuncut, who claims he was “caught off guard” by the announcement.
The expert articulates his thoughts in a reaction video: Diablo 4 is increasingly being sidelined by Blizzard, and the withdrawal from YouTube is further evidence of this, in his view.
Additionally concerning: The Sanctuary Sitdowns aren’t even moderated by Blizzard itself, but by streamer Cliptis. jessirocks speculates: It seems like they’re removing Diablo 4 from Blizzard’s hands – perhaps a wave of layoffs is on the horizon – and then it will be neglected until the next expansion.
In conjunction with the recent and unexpected exit of former franchise head Rod Fergusson, the shift in community engagement is widely seen as a negative omen. What are your thoughts? Feel free to share your opinions on the matter in the comments!