The opening day of BlizzCon is upon us and Blizzard has surprised the entire Diablo fanbase with a new announcement. For years now, the community has been guessing at what Blizzard had in store for the future of the franchise. Rumors spread of perhaps Diablo IV or maybe even a remastered version of Diablo II being announced.
Today, we finally got our answer: Diablo Immortal, Blizzard’s first iteration of a Diablo mobile phone game.
Advertised as a full Diablo experience available to everyone on their phones, Immortal will bring back the classes Barbarian, Monk, Wizard, Demon Hunter, Crusader, and Necromancer. The game will take place between the events of Diablo II and III and takes its visual inspiration from Diablo III.
This surprise announcement of a mobile game has many Diablo fans furious and confused. In the Q&A portion of the reveal at BlizzCon, one fan even asked the developers if this release was an out-of-season April Fools’ joke. After the anticipated prospects of a new game, expansion, or remaster, it seems that this move onto mobile platforms is underwhelming for a large portion of the community who had expected something more. The above video, at the time of this article being written, has 51,000 dislikes and only 2,000 likes.
In the past, Diablo III‘s release was met with some degree of disdain as well. It had many issues upon release and, through a series of patches, Blizzard was able to make amends and turn it into quite possibly the most popular member of the franchise. While this situation is a bit different, it will be interesting to see what Blizzard does (or even if they will do anything) to amend for the disappointment of such a large part of the fanbase.
Despite this backlash from the fans, Diablo Immortal promises to be a very solid mobile game. Blizzard games tend to have a certain quality to them and Immortal looks to be no different with its great graphics, multiplayer compatibility, and multi-class system.
For those interested in more information, the official website is up and running for Diablo Immortal. Here, you can sign up to be pre-registered so you can receive news and updates as the development of the game progresses.
