Coming as a surprise for many, a Diablo 4 GM clarified that players will need to make a new seasonal character for the game's battle pass.

This clarification came from a thread on Twitter. The original post came from Paul Tassi, games and TV writer for Forbes. On his Twitter account, Tassi asked for clarification on just how Diablo 4's season pass works. He then tags Rod Fergusson, a “GM for all things Diablo and Blizzard”, asking for an explanation. Fergusson tweeted back, stating that the player does need to make “a new seasonal character.”

Hey Paul, yes to take part in the seasonal questline, mechanics, season journey and battle pass, you will need to create a new seasonal character. Playing campaign with seasonal character (if you so desire or need to finish) will also progress the season journey and battle pass.

This came as a surprise to quite a few players. Some of them have even voiced their concerns. One user, for example, mentioned that Diablo 4 is “going to lose so much of this massive new casual player base because of the season resets once it actually kicks in… Should rethink your strategy”. Another user, who paid for the game's first season, said that they'll “make a new character but after that I'm done. Re-leveling off the same content with some new and small twists isn't my idea of fun to rinse and repeat.”

Some people, however, brought up that this has always been how Diablo did things. Diablo 2 had its ladder system, while Diablo 3 had its seasons. Both of these systems had players starting a new seasonal character every time a reset came around. As such, having a seasonal character system return to Diablo 4 isn't that much of a surprise for fans of the game series.

In any case, players can expect the first season and battle pass for Diablo 4 to launch around mid to late July. That's around a month from now.

That's all the information we have about the Diablo 4 Battle Pass requiring new characters. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.