When Diablo 3 was first revealed, many believed the changes made to the gameplay mechanics — specifically the way the abilities were presented and mapped — were a result of Blizzard wanting to bring the game over to traditional living room consoles. Although the game was eventually released for PlayStation and Xbox, senior level designer Matthew Berger insists Diablo 3 was not designed with controllers in mind.
Despite how natural Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition feels on PS4 (our hands-on preview is coming soon), Berger explained "If that were the case, decisions would've been different."
"There would've been fewer skills," he said. "You have no idea how hard it is to cram all of that stuff onto a controller. You have all your skills. You have to open your map. You have to open your inventory. You have to use your town portal."
"It's actually a lot of hard work," he continued. "It was very, very difficult. You'll notice that certain features don't exist on PC for instance. We had to put that in, in part because it's an action game and it sort of made sense, but also because when you're directly controlling your character, if you get in trouble, you have to find the path to get out. You're not clicking somewhere and your character finds that path."
"It was really a challenge. And I think we've risen to that challenge. And I'm really happy with the result," Berger concluded. "But, yea, it was a lot of hard work."
Diablo 3 is currently available on Xbox 360 and PS3, with Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition coming to PS4. We asked about an Xbox One version, but sadly Blizzard would not confirm nor deny its existence.
