Diablo boss gets ratio'd for saying we should "normalize 'Diablo-like' for ARPGs that follow the Diablo formula," "much like 'Souls-like' and 'Rogue-like'"
Nov. 28, 2024In Rod Fergusson’s ideal world, we’d be calling Path of Exile a Diablo-like
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Diablo franchise boss Rod Fergusson is taking a fair bit of heat online for suggesting ARPGs that are similar to Diablo should be labeled Diablo-likes.
In a tweet that’s since been properly ratio’d, Fergusson asks whether ARPGs should adopt the Diablo-like moniker in the same way that a certain breed of action-RPG is called a Souls-like and a particular type of dungeon crawler is called a Roguelike.
“Feels like the genre of ‘ARPG’ is starting to mean a lot of different things,” Fergusson said. “Much like ‘Souls-like’ and ‘Rogue-like’, I wonder if we could normalize ‘Diablo-like’ for ARPGs that follow the Diablo formula…”
Just to contextualize how voluminous the backlash to this suggestion has been:the top replyis from streamer Empyrian and it reads simply: “I don’t think so.” That reply has 1.4k likes compared to the 728 likes on Fergusson’s original tweet. Worse yet, Fergusson’s tweet has a whopping 2.2k comments, the overwhelming majority of which are disapproving.
“I wish d4 was a diablo like,” reads another highly likedreply.
I’ll leave you to make your own judgment call on the situation, but I will also point out that Fergusson sent out the above tweet just hours afterPath of Exile 2had its big Early Access revealstream; Path of Exile of course being Diablo’s most direct and formidable competitor. From the outside looking in, it surelookslike there might’ve been a little frustration over how much attention Path of Exile 2 was getting that inspired Fergusson’s tweet, but that’s purely my own assumption that isn’t based on any inside knowledge.
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Meanwhile,Diablo: Dawn of Hatred launches on Free Comic Book Day – 7 years after Titan announced that it would publish comics set in the world of Blizzard’s dungeon crawler.
After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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