History of Diablo II in Timeline

Diablo II, an action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000, is known for its dark fantasy and horror themes. Conceptualized by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer, who led the project with Max Schaefer, the game's senior producers were Matthew Householder and Bill Roper. The development spanned three years, including an intensive crunch period of a year and a half.

1997: Diablo II Announcement

In 1997, Blizzard announced Diablo II with a planned launch for the first quarter of 1998. The game aimed to fix issues from the first Diablo, enhance multiplayer, and expand character class distinctions.

1998: Diablo II Missed Deadline

In 1998, Diablo II missed its initial launch deadline.

1999: Diablo II Enters Crunch Time

In 1999, after missing a key deadline in 1998, Blizzard North entered crunch time to ensure Diablo II would release by 2000.

March 2000: Diablo II Score Recording Completed

In March 2000, the score for Diablo II, composed by Matt Uelmen, which integrates creepy ambience with melodic pieces, was completed with recordings in Redwood City, Oakland, and San Mateo, California.

June 2000: Diablo II #1 in German Market

Diablo II debuted at #1 on Media Control's computer game sales chart for June 2000 in the German market and was presented with a "Gold" award after three weeks, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

October 2000: Diablo II US Sales

By the end of October 2000, Diablo II domestic sales reached 790,285 units ($41.05 million), with another $4.47 million earned via sales of the Collector's Edition.

2000: Diablo II Planned Release

Blizzard North targeted 2000 as the release year for Diablo II after entering crunch during 1999 to assure the game would release.

2000: Diablo II Among the most Popular Games

In 2000, Diablo II became one of the most popular games, building on the success of Diablo and improving gameplay and story. Factors contributing to its success included popular fantasy themes and access to Blizzard's free online play service, Battle.net.

2000: Awards for Diablo II

In 2000, Diablo II earned GameSpot's runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of the year. Diablo II was awarded with "PC Role-Playing Game of the Year", "PC Game of the Year", and "Game of the Year" from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences during the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.

2000: Release of Diablo II Collector's Editions and Gift Packs

In 2000, Diablo II was released in a Collector's Edition with bonus material and the Diablo Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper setting. The Diablo II: Exclusive Gift Set similarly contained collector's material and a strategy guide, while the Diablo Gift Pack contained copies of Diablo and Diablo II.

2000: Diablo II Compatibility

In 2000, the original CD retail release of Diablo II worked on Windows 95/98/Me/NT4SP5.

January 2001: Diablo II Charts in Germany

In January 2001, Diablo II continued to chart in Germany, placing 24th, and its Limited Edition debuted in second place for February.

June 29, 2001: Diablo II Sales Reach 4 Million

As of June 29, 2001, Diablo II had sold 4 million copies worldwide.

2001: Diablo II Sales in the United States

In 2001, Diablo II continued its sales success in the United States, becoming the country's eighth best-selling computer title of the year with 517,037 units sold and $19.3 million in revenue.

2001: Release of Diablo: Battle Chest

In 2001, the Diablo: Battle Chest was released, containing Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the official strategy guide, and the original Diablo.

2001: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Expansion Release

In 2001, the expansion to Diablo II, titled Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, was released, adding to the game's content and features.

June 2003: Second Expansion Shelved

Around June 2003, the second expansion beyond Lord of Destruction, which was in the design stages at Blizzard and would have brought more MMO elements, was shelved when most of the Blizzard North staff left the company.

August 2006: Diablo II Lifetime Sales

By August 2006, Diablo II's lifetime domestic sales climbed to 1.7 million units, totaling $67.1 million in revenue. At the time, Edge declared it the United States' second-largest computer game hit released since January 2000.

2008: Renewed Interest in Diablo II Mods

Around 2008, the announcement of Diablo III renewed interest in Diablo II and brought more attention to the many mods available for the game.

2008: Diablo: Battle Chest Sales

In 2008, the Diablo: Battle Chest was the 19th best-selling PC game, eight years after Diablo II's initial release.

2010: Still Popular on Battle.net

In 2010, 11 million users still played Diablo II and StarCraft over Battle.net, and Diablo: Battle Chest continued to be sold in retail stores.

May 15, 2012: Diablo III Release

On May 15, 2012, Diablo III, the sequel to Diablo II, was officially released to the public.

2015: Unofficial Port for ARM Architecture-based Pandora Handheld

In 2015, an unofficial port of Diablo II for the ARM architecture-based Pandora handheld became available through static recompilation and reverse engineering of the original x86 version.

2015: Heroes of the Storm Characters

In 2015, within Heroes of the Storm, the playable characters Cassia and Xul represent the Amazon and the Necromancer classes from Diablo II, respectively.

March 11, 2016: Release of 1.14a Patch

On March 11, 2016, Blizzard released the 1.14a Patch for Diablo II, adding support for Windows 7 and newer, a macOS installer, and support for OS X 10.10 and 10.11. Diablo II is not supported on macOS 10.15, due to Apple completely dropping compatibility with 32-bit binaries in this version.

July 2016: Diablo II version 1.14d

As of July 2016, Diablo II is in version 1.14d, with a history of patches addressing exploits, bugs, and game balance.

August 2016: Diablo II Placed on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list

In August 2016, Diablo II was placed 21st on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list.

2016: Blizzard Limited Support for Diablo II

Until 2016, Blizzard provided limited support for Diablo II, including occasional patches.

September 23, 2021: Diablo II: Resurrected Release

On September 23, 2021, Diablo II: Resurrected, a remastered version of Diablo II which also includes the Lord of Destruction expansion, was released.

2021: Diablo II: Resurrected Released

In 2021, Diablo II: Resurrected, a remaster of Diablo II and its expansion, was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch. The remaster includes updated graphics, smoother gameplay, re-rendered cutscenes, and cross-progression support.