Grinding Gear Games Co-Founder Chris Wilson Wants Diablo 5 to Succeed for the ARPG Genre

Grinding Gear Games co-founder and former Path of Exile lead designer Chris Wilson says he wants Diablo 5 to succeed because a strong new Blizzard action RPG could bring more players into the genre rather than simply take attention away from competing games.

Wilson, who co-founded Grinding Gear Games and served as lead designer on the original Path of Exile before leaving the studio in 2023, discussed Blizzard's newly announced sequel in a video covering his reaction to its first reveal. Although he remains cautious about the game itself, he believes a successful Diablo 5 would ultimately benefit developers across the ARPG space.

Wilson's argument is that action RPG audiences do not necessarily remain committed to a single title indefinitely.

He described players in the genre as "content-starved," pointing to how quickly new updates and releases can be consumed even when developers maintain a busy content schedule.

That creates room for players to move between games such as Diablo, Path of Exile and other ARPGs rather than treating each new release as a direct replacement for everything else.

For Wilson, Blizzard's reach makes Diablo 5 particularly important. A successful launch could introduce a large mainstream audience to the genre, with some of those players then looking to try other action RPGs. "A rising tide lifts all ships," Wilson said while explaining why he sees a strong Diablo 5 as good for the wider market.

That view differs from the idea that Path of Exile would automatically benefit if Blizzard's next game struggled. Wilson instead sees a larger overall ARPG audience as more valuable than gaining players through a competitor's failure.

Wilson's interest in the series is closely tied to the origins of Path of Exile.

He said he spent much of his teenage years playing Diablo and particularly Diablo 2, which had a major influence on the kind of action RPG he wanted to play. Years later, with no direct sequel available that matched what he was looking for, Wilson and a group of friends began building the project that eventually became Path of Exile.

That history also explains why his reaction to more recent Diablo games has been mixed. Wilson said Diablo 3 moved too far away from what he enjoyed about Diablo 2, while early information about Diablo 4, including its open-world structure and level scaling, also failed to capture the same appeal for him.

Wilson said Blizzard's first presentation of Diablo 5 gave him more reason for optimism than he expected.

Blizzard has already confirmed that itemisation in the sequel is taking inspiration from Diablo 2, with stat requirements on gear being explored alongside larger inventory items, gear sets, deeper crafting and the return of Runes and Runewords. Those early systems align more closely with the parts of the franchise Wilson has historically preferred.

He also pointed to the visual presentation of the new game's logo as a small but deliberate callback to the first two entries.

His reaction is not completely positive. Wilson was less enthusiastic about Blizzard publicly discussing how Diablo 5 had previously been considered as an expansion for Diablo 4. He argued that framing the new game that way could undermine confidence in it as a distinct entry.

Blizzard revealed Diablo 5 at BlizzCon 2026 and plans to release it in spring 2029. The game remains early in development, with regular development updates scheduled to begin in 2027.