Diablo III Isn't the End for the Diablo Franchise

At the end of June during the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational in Paris, Blizzard revealed the third installment in the hugely popular hack-and-slash action series. For gamers who thought this might mark the end of their beloved Diablo games, fret not. In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, Blizzard stated that while Diablo III will round out the trilogy, it will not end the franchise.

"We're not saying this is the end of the Diablo universe, but we are trying to bring this storyline to a close," noted lead designer Jay Wilson. "It's not just Diablo III — we've got plans beyond."

Wilson also briefly commented on the focus on characters in Diablo III, which Blizzard hopes to make more than simply an extension of Diablo II. "We also tried to focus a little more on bringing characters back, and not just from Diablo II but from Diablo I," Wilson explained. "We feel like a lot of the focus is on Diablo II but Diablo I started it all and has a lot of really good stuff on the gameplay side and on the character side. So people can expect to see characters from Diablo I, more characters from Diablo II, and characters from some of the books. We're definitely going to bring a few of them in."