Diablo 4 is done with expansions - and your wallet might thank Blizzard

How much does Diablo 4 actually cost? For three years that question had a moving answer. Base game, then Vessel of Hatred, then Lord of Hatred this April - every time you thought you finally owned the whole thing, Blizzard added another shelf. Now there's a straight answer, because Blizzard has confirmed Diablo 4 won't get any more expansions before Diablo 5, which was announced at BlizzCon for spring 2029.

Lord of Hatred is officially the last one. Blizzard's reasoning is that the story of Hatred has been told and the next chapter belongs to Terror - in other words, to Diablo himself, in the sequel.

That doesn't mean the lights are going off. Diablo 4 carries on through seasons, and the first one of this new phase, Season of Hell's Legacy, starts on 15 September. It's a tribute to the series' 30th anniversary: Deckard Cain is back, and so are all three Prime Evils - Diablo, Baal and Mephisto. The timing lines up with the game's arrival on Switch 2, so a fresh wave of players is coming in at exactly the moment the content roadmap gets thinner.

The catch is the Amazon. The returning class is due in the first half of 2027, but not as part of an expansion - Blizzard will sell it as a separate class pack. There's no price yet. I'm not thrilled about this. A new class used to be the headline reason to buy an expansion, bundled with a region, a story and new systems. Now it's a standalone item on the shop shelf. If it's priced like a small add-on, fine. If it lands anywhere near expansion money, the grumbling will be fully deserved.

Still, for a normal player here this is mostly good news. Seasons are free for everyone who owns the game, so sticking with Diablo 4 until 2029 costs you practically nothing extra unless you want the Amazon or cosmetics. And the "complete" Diablo 4 is now a fixed package - base game plus two expansions. Fixed packages are exactly what ends up on sale. If you skipped Lord of Hatred at full price in April, I'd now calmly wait for a discounted bundle on Steam, the PlayStation Store or the eShop rather than pay the full euro price.

If you buy physical, the old warning applies. The base game disc is easy to find second-hand for little money, but the expansions live on your account, so a used copy only gets you the start of the story. Check what's actually in the box - especially on Switch 2, where you'll want to know whether the game is on the cartridge or you're just getting a download code.

The real question is the gap until 2029. Seasons can keep a game alive, but they rarely feel like new Diablo. If Blizzard really believes there's plenty of room for storytelling before the sequel, seasons will have to carry far more narrative weight than they have so far. Season of Hell's Legacy is the first test - and a nostalgic one, which is the easiest kind to pass.

Image: Morten Skovgaard / CC BY 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diablo_panel_and_cosplay_at_BlizzCon_2013_019.jpg