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Diablo 3 on PS3 and PS4 won’t connect to Blizzard’s Battle.net, won’t need to be always connected

Anthony John Agnello
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diablo3When the Blizzard logo popped up on stage at Sony’s Feb. 20 press event for the PlayStation 4, there was audible gasp in the crowd. Here was a momentous occasion: Blizzard hasn’t developed a console game since the aborted Starcraft: Ghost ten years ago, and even then that game was farmed out to two external studios before it was ultimately canceled. What could it be? A re-imagined World of Warcraft? The long-rumored Titan MMO? Something entirely new? None of the above: Blizzard announced a port Diablo 3 for PS3 and PS4. The announcement wasn’t too surprising though, since Blizzard has said it was experimenting with a console rendition of its popular PC game since before its May 2012 release.

The implication of a console release for Diablo 3 was more exciting than the actual game. Given its need for a persistent internet connection and access to auction houses, Diablo 3 on console would link Sony’s PlayStation Network to Blizzard’s Battle.net in the same way that Portal 2 tied together the PlayStation Network and Valve’s Steam. Portal 2 players could even enjoy cross-platform play, with co-op partners enjoying the game on PC and PS3 simultaneously. That would pave the way, theoretically, for more Blizzard projects on the platform.

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Turns out that won’t be happening either. Not only does Diablo 3 for consoles not need a persistent internet connection to play, it won’t connect to Battle.net at all.

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“While we think cross-platform play would be awesome, there are currently no plans to allow connectivity between PlayStation Network and Battle.net,” said Blizzard’s community manager on Monday, “As a result, the characters on your Battle.net account and PlayStation account will also remain separate.”

Depending on your perspective, this confirmation could either make the console Diablo 3 the best or the worst version of the game. In the months since the PC and Mac release, Diablo 3 has been savaged for the problems caused by requiring a persistent connection to Battle.net as well as problems with the game’s balancing due to the economics of its Auction House. The console Diablo 3 will be completely free of these divisive features.

Then again, by segregating the console Diablo 3 from Battle.net, those players may miss out on some of the more granular tweaks introduced to the game.

Diablo 3 has no specific release date on consoles, but the PlayStation 3 version is reportedly “much further along” than the PS4 version.

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Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
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