Over the weekend, Diablo IV and many other Blizzard titles found themselves unable to connect to the official servers due to a DDoS attack. Cybercriminals used bot networks to flood servers with fake requests, causing them to slow down or even crash. It’s not clear who was behind the attack, but Blizzard worked quickly to resolve it, and the dungeon-crawling sequel is now playable again.
Players first started noticing issues with the game on Saturday evening, but Blizzard officially acknowledged it on Sunday morning with a tweet that noted they were actively monitoring “an ongoing DDoS attack affecting latency and connection to our authentication servers.” The problem continued through much of the day. Those who were able to log in still reported problems with disconnections and rubber-banding, not to mention the inability to access their character profiles or make progress in the game.
Considering that the game was released just last year and that Blizzard has invested a lot into its multiplayer and other live services, the DDoS attack was a major blow for fans of the franchise. The company’s in-game news widget did a good job of keeping fans updated with what was going on, but many were left wondering when the problem would end and what it would take for the game to function normally again.
For some, the DDoS attack served as a reminder that they should never rely on an always-online system to play their games. It’s a concern that has been growing louder as more and more games shift towards being online-only, including a controversial decision in the case of Diablo IV that players will have to start fresh every season.
The DDoS attack lasted for roughly three hours before it finally came to an end, with the server issues seemingly back to normal for now. Players can continue to troubleshoot their connections in the meantime, and Blizzard is advising them to check out its community page for further updates.
As of this writing, Blizzard’s customer service account is confirming that the DDoS attacks it was monitoring have indeed ended, but they’ll be keeping an eye on things to ensure the servers remain stable. This isn’t the first time that DDoS has caused a problem for Diablo players, and it won’t be the last. That’s just the nature of these kinds of attacks, though, and it won’t stop gamers from wanting an offline mode for their favorite games as they become increasingly reliant on their online infrastructure. The upcoming release of the Season 1 update for Diablo IV will be an important moment to watch, then, as it could bring some relief to diehard fans of the franchise. For now, the game is back in action after a long wait for many. Let’s hope the servers hold up for its latest iteration!