Diablo IV

Diablo IV launched in June 2023 as Blizzard's fastest-selling game ever, but Season 1's infamous 1.1 nerf patch torched player trust — an emergency Campfire Chat and a reversal-heavy 1.1.1 steadied the ship. Season 4's Loot Reborn (May 2024) rebuilt itemization on a public test realm and won the community back, and both expansions shipped on schedule — Vessel of Hatred (Oct 2024, 84 Metacritic) and Lord of Hatred (Apr 2026, 84-86 Metacritic, 90% OpenCritic) — critics generally favorable on both. The recovery is real but incomplete: Steam sentiment and pricing complaints linger, and the score credits follow-through rather than merely repairing self-inflicted damage.

• Season 1's 1.1 nerf patch (July 2023) drew a next-day Campfire Chat announcement, a 'we know it is not fun' admission from the dev team, and a reversal-heavy 1.1.1 patch within two weeks — fast, honest crisis response.
• Season 4: Loot Reborn (May 2024) rebuilt itemization on a public test realm and was hailed as the game's turnaround: Steam recent reviews flipped to 'Mostly Positive' and Steam concurrents hit an all-time high of ~39,000.
• Two expansions delivered on schedule — Vessel of Hatred (Oct 2024) and Lord of Hatred (Apr 2026, adding the Paladin and Warlock, Skovos, War Plans, and a loot filter) — with the latter bundling Vessel of Hatred and shipping fan-requested systems to all players free.
• The jury is still out on full recovery: Steam user sentiment stayed mixed for long stretches, Season 3 (Construct) was panned, Vessel of Hatred's $40 price tag drew fire, and this score does not credit Blizzard merely for fixing its own 1.1-era mistakes.