Diablo 4 Manager Reveals Why Popular Diablo 3 Feature Wasn’t Included at the Game’s Launch

Highlights

• General Manager Rod Fergusson explains that mini pets were not included in Diablo 4 at launch to maintain the game’s authentic and grounded aesthetic.
• Fergusson acknowledges the desire for mini pets and states that the team enjoys creating them, but wanted to ensure Diablo 4 was established in a specific tone before exploring additional features.
• The introduction of non-combat pets, such as crows or imps, could add convenience to Diablo 4 without compromising its intended tone, and could also serve as a potential angle for microtransactions.

The absence of non-combat pets in Diablo 4 was felt by fans of its predecessor, and General Manager Rod Fergusson finally broke the silence on why the team decided against putting the feature in at launch. Pets in Diablo 3 had the genius role of collecting gold, allowing players more up-time in massacring the forces of the Burning Hells. Though the sequel has purposefully slowed down its gameplay to align more with Diablo 2, many fans feel this quality-of-life feature is missing in Diablo 4.

While Diablo 4‘s Season of Blood attempted to fix a laundry list of issues that players have been complaining about since beta, there is still a long way to go. New boss fights were introduced to the game, build variety has increased tremendously compared to launch, and Malignant Rings will try to bring the most fun aspect of Diablo 4‘s inaugural season as an evergreen feature in Patch 1.2.2. Though Blizzard was tight-lipped on details at BlizzCon 2023, both regarding Vessel of Hatred and Season 3, subsequent interviews have yielded plenty of interesting tidbits on the future of Diablo 4.

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“When we started out, we really wanted to establish ourselves in a very authentic way, a very grounded way.” – Rod Fergusson

General Manager Rod Fergusson had an interview with TechRadar concerning the direction of the game, and when asked about the possibility of mini pets coming to Diablo 4, his reply was to never say never. “When we started out, we really wanted to establish ourselves in a very authentic way, a very grounded way,” Fergusson explained, stating that the things that defined Diablo 3 such as “big wings” and “mini pets” would have felt out of place in the dark gothic world of Diablo 4 that team painstakingly created.

“We get the desire [for mini pets] and we had fun with those as well. We like mini pets, we like to make all that stuff as well,” Fergusson declared, before adding: “But we wanted to make sure that Diablo 4 as sort of the reemergence – the tentpole version of our franchise – was coming in, in an authentic, grounded way that we could build from there. That’s not saying we’ll never do it, but it felt too early in season one.”

Though it remains to be seen what Vessel of Hatred will bring to Diablo 4, it will effectively be “season two,” and there may be ways of reconciling non-combat pets with the grounded aesthetic of the game. Having a crow, bat, or even a small imp follow the player around, collecting gold and materials in their stead, would add plenty of convenience to Diablo 4 without ruining the tone that it’s attempting to evoke. Given that microtransactions play a primary role in Diablo 4‘s monetization format, selling mini pet skins would also be a worthwhile angle for Blizzard to consider. Ultimately, players will have to wait until late 2024 for Kurast to open its doors and reveal what it has in store.