Path of Exile Co-Creator Urges Diablo 5 to Avoid Chasing Every Type of Player

Diablo 5 has only recently been formally discussed, but the early conversation around Blizzard's next major action RPG is already turning toward a familiar challenge: how does a long-running series honor multiple generations of fans without losing its own identity?

Chris Wilson, the co-creator of Path of Exile and a prominent longtime Diablo 2 fan, has expressed optimism about the material Blizzard has shown so far. At the same time, he has raised one concern about the studio's apparent effort to hear from players across the full history of the franchise. In an interview with Destin Legarie, Wilson suggested that trying to satisfy fans of every individual Diablo game at once could lead to design decisions that pull against each other.

His position is not that Blizzard should ignore players who came to the series through later entries. Instead, Wilson's argument is that the series has changed enough from game to game that "Diablo player" is not necessarily one unified audience with one shared wishlist. A new sequel, in his view, benefits from deciding which experience it most wants to deliver and building around that goal.

"It's OK to not appeal to every Diablo player as long as the product that's made is really fun for the core audience you're targeting," Wilson said.

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Diablo's audience has never been one thing

The concern comes from comments made around BlizzCon 2026, where Diablo leadership indicated that Blizzard has been surveying players from across the series, from the original Diablo through Diablo 4. That is a logical starting point for a franchise with such a broad and varied legacy, but Wilson noted that the games have not always represented the same exact style of action RPG.

The first Diablo established the series' oppressive mood, dungeon-delving structure, and constant vulnerability. Its atmosphere was claustrophobic and grim, with a descent into a corrupted cathedral forming the backbone of the experience. Diablo 2 expanded the formula dramatically, creating the loot chase, character-building depth, randomized environments, and long-term replayability that helped define the genre for decades.

Later installments moved in different directions. Diablo 3 emphasized a faster, more accessible combat loop and a distinctly different visual tone, while Diablo 4 combined an open-world structure with seasonal systems and a return to a darker presentation. Each game has its defenders, and each has cultivated players with different expectations about pacing, complexity, itemization, social play, endgame progression, and atmosphere.

Wilson pointed out that Blizzard did not even formally identify Diablo as an action-RPG series until Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. That observation underlines how much the franchise's identity has evolved over time. Asking the entire player base what it wants from a new installment could produce many answers that are hard to reconcile in one coherent design.

"If you make a game for everyone, you make a game for no one," Wilson concluded, summarizing his fear that Diablo 5 could become too broad in pursuit of universal appeal.

Early Diablo 5 details point toward a harsher Sanctuary

There is still a great deal Blizzard has not explained about Diablo 5, including the moment-to-moment systems that will define its combat, progression, and endgame. However, the initial information presented at BlizzCon 2026 has established a notably bleak premise.

The game is set in a version of Sanctuary that has been completely overrun by Diablo and his forces. Traditional towns and safe spaces will no longer offer the familiar refuge players have come to expect from the series. That setup alone suggests a world where pressure, danger, and horror are intended to remain present beyond the walls of individual dungeons.

Blizzard's early messaging has also drawn attention to elements associated with the franchise's older games. Procedurally generated environments are set to return, and the discussion around itemization has evoked comparisons with Diablo 2. Those choices have encouraged players who prefer the series' earlier design philosophy, especially those hoping for more meaningful gear decisions and greater replayability through randomized spaces.

Wilson said these signs have been encouraging. He described the presentation as containing strong signals toward Diablo 2, something he sees as exciting. Yet his cautious note remains relevant precisely because the design details are still so limited. A dark setting, randomized environments, and old-school itemization influences can all point in a particular direction, but the final game will be shaped by how deeply Blizzard commits to those ideas across its wider systems.

Why a focused vision matters for action RPGs

Action RPGs are especially vulnerable to conflicting expectations because their core appeal can vary dramatically from player to player. One player may want rapid combat and straightforward upgrades. Another may want a complicated web of systems to master over hundreds of hours. Some prioritize a carefully paced campaign, while others are interested almost exclusively in repeatable endgame content, trading economies, difficult boss encounters, or seasonal resets.

None of those preferences are invalid, but they do not always lead to the same game. More elaborate character customization can demand greater player study and create a steeper learning curve. A simplified gearing system can make progression clearer but may reduce the room for experimentation. Open-world activities, structured dungeons, competitive ladders, cooperative social systems, and horror-focused isolation all ask for different priorities.

For Diablo 5, the key question will be whether its many potential features are connected by a recognizable central philosophy. If Blizzard wants to foreground dread, discovery, and dangerous exploration in an occupied Sanctuary, its progression and world design will need to reinforce that tension. If it seeks to revive aspects of Diablo 2's item hunt, then gear, trading, build experimentation, and encounter design will need to make those decisions matter.

A game can certainly welcome newcomers while retaining depth, and it can borrow lessons from multiple installments without turning into an unfocused blend. Wilson's warning is more about the risk of treating every piece of feedback as equally compatible. Broad research can be valuable, but research still needs to inform a specific creative decision.

Blizzard has room to learn from every era

Surveying the franchise's diverse fan base does not automatically mean Diablo 5 will be designed by committee. It can also mean Blizzard is trying to identify what different audiences value, which frustrations have persisted, and where prior entries succeeded. Players who prefer Diablo 3 may have useful perspectives on readability, responsiveness, and approachable cooperative play. Diablo 4 players can speak to the strengths and weaknesses of a live seasonal model and an open-world framework. Veterans of the first two games bring their own expectations around mood, danger, itemization, and replay value.

The challenge is not collecting those perspectives. It is deciding which feedback supports Diablo 5's intended identity and which requests belong to a different kind of Diablo game.

At this stage, the early signs arguably leave room for optimism among fans hoping for a more horror-driven sequel. Diablo 5's premise is darker than the series has often been in recent years, placing an already triumphant Diablo at the center of a Sanctuary without conventional safe havens. The apparent return of procedural generation and the nods toward Diablo 2-style itemization also suggest that Blizzard is looking back to foundational parts of the franchise rather than simply attempting a lowest-common-denominator sequel.

Still, no amount of thematic signaling can answer every question about the game's eventual structure. Fans do not yet know the full extent of the character-building systems, how loot will function in practice, what the world's activities will look like, or how Blizzard intends to support the game over time. Those unanswered details will determine whether the early references to classic Diablo become the spine of the project or simply part of a larger hybrid.

A debate worth having early

Wilson's comments reflect a debate that will likely continue throughout Diablo 5's development: should a sequel try to be the definitive Diablo for every audience, or should it confidently become one particular vision of Diablo?

The strongest early material points toward the latter. A conquered Sanctuary, absent safe towns, a more pronounced horror tone, procedural spaces, and familiar itemization influences all paint a picture of Blizzard revisiting some of the tension and uncertainty that made the original games distinctive. That does not mean Diablo 5 must replicate Diablo or Diablo 2, nor would a simple recreation necessarily satisfy modern players.

But a sequel with a firm point of view may ultimately have a better chance of leaving its own mark. Diablo has lasted because it has repeatedly changed, sometimes in divisive ways, while continuing to inspire unusually passionate discussion about what the series should be. Diablo 5 now has the opportunity to add another chapter to that history. The question is whether it will try to answer every version of that debate at once, or choose a path and make it compelling enough for players to follow.