Explosive Controversy: The True Story behind Diablo 4's Flawed Hardcore Contest Winners List

Diablo 4 hardcore players are questioning the accuracy of Blizzard's list of the top 1,000 Hardcore players who reached level 100. Instead of implementing a launch season and leaderboard for Diablo 4 Hardcore mode, Blizzard opted for a race to level 100. Players were required to reach level 100 with a Hardcore character and then share their achievement on Twitter. However, Blizzard's recently published results seem to be missing numerous Diablo 4 players who successfully completed the task.

In May, Blizzard initially announced the Diablo 4 Hardcore launch race. The first 1,000 Hardcore players to reach the maximum level of 100 would not only receive official recognition from Blizzard but also have their names engraved on a statue of the antagonist Lilith, which would be placed on the company's campus. Blizzard has now revealed the list of the first 1,000 players to accomplish this feat in Diablo 4's Hardcore mode, but this is where the issues arise.

After Blizzard's release of the official list of the first 1,000 Hardcore players to reach level 100 in Diablo 4, numerous players who were confident of their inclusion were disappointed to find their names missing. A post on the Diablo4 subreddit on Reddit presented evidence of their completion of all necessary requirements to be on Blizzard's list, yet they were still excluded. These players assert that they have no reason to believe they should have been overlooked, but are unable to rectify the situation besides addressing the issue within the Diablo 4 community.

Following the posting on Reddit, it became apparent that many other Diablo 4 Hardcore players were facing the same predicament. Over 25 different Diablo 4 players provided evidence of their completion, yet were disregarded for Blizzard's list. Twitch streamer Asmongold even investigated the matter during a recent stream, but was unable to comprehend why such a large number of individuals were excluded.

The situation is extremely strange. Numerous theories have been put forth to explain why so many individuals were excluded from the list. These theories range from players belonging to prohibited regions and having connections to Blizzard employees, to being part of the alpha testing or having inappropriate character names. There is even speculation that Blizzard employees conducting the Twitter name collection may have purposely blocked certain players. However, none of these theories hold water considering the significant number of Diablo 4 players who were left off the list.

Blizzard has not yet made an official statement regarding the missing names. Currently, the company is primarily focused on unveiling details about Diablo 4's upcoming first season, the Season of the Malignant, set to launch on July 20.

Diablo 4 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.