Netflix Counters Disney+ With 'Diablo' And 'Overwatch' Animated Series

“Diablo” is very likely to hop on the Netflix bandwagon. The news, albeit has not been officially confirmed, came in the form of a mention on President of Activision-Blizzard Nick van Dyke’s LinkedIn profile. The move is also being pegged as a smart strategy undertaken by Netflix to counter Disney +.

The executive producer of “Diablo”, a TV adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s IP, divulged that work was in progress and “currently in pre-production for distribution worldwide through Netflix.” On the premium professional networking site.

The profile also mentions about an animated series based on Blizzard’s “Overwatch” franchise. Despite there not being an explicit mention of Netflix’s participation, it’s only fair to base assumptions and draw a link between the two, given how the streaming giant is working on a similar adaptation for Blizzard’s “Diablo” IP.

What needs to be noted is that both “Diablo” and “Overwatch” have major sequels for release in the pipeline—with “Diablo 4” and “Overwatch” 2 respectively— so it’s unsurprising to find Blizzard capitalizing on the anticipation through stories told outside of the games themselves.

In March, Blizzard Entertainment filed a trademark for a property called Diablo that was listed as being intended for “Downloadable films and movies featuring narratives based on a video game and provided via a video-on-demand service,” The reveal gave fans a lot of ideas. The most common speculation being the project being produced for a streaming giant like Netflix.

That said, since neither Blizzard nor Netflix has made things official, so one cannot get too excited especially since shows get canceled even after getting greenlit.

Yet again, there’s a streak of hope considering how Blizzard has dropped strong hints about its willingness to conjure up an animated series. It’s pretty evident that “Overwatch” would translate to animation perfectly. And now, with strong hints being dropped about “Diablo” getting an animated series, can “Overwatch” be far behind when it comes to following suit?

Here’s a fun fact: Activision-Blizzard happens to have a subsidiary called Activision-Blizzard Studios, which was founded specifically to conjure up mighty adaptations of their games. The subsidiary made the successful Skylanders: Academy for Netflix and speculations are rife that “Diablo” will join the list.