Going into BlizzCon, many Diablo fans were on the edge of their seats, anticipating some big Diablo-related news. Leading the pack of theories was speculation that Diablo IIII would be announced to cap the show. Others thought a Diablo II remaster or the official reveal of the Diablo TV show apparently in the works. But what actually capped the show, was Diablo Immortal, a Diablo mobile game.
And fans weren’t happy about it.
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At the moment of writing this, the official announcement cinematic trailer has 70,000 dislikes and less than 3,000 likes. In other words the like to dislike ratio leans so heavily towards the latter the “like” side is barley visible.
So what’s the fuss about? Well, for one, it’s a mobile game. And mobile games are rarely greeted well, particularly when it’s for a non-mobile game franchise, especially if that franchise has predominately a PC gaming audience.
Two, it’s been six years since a new Diablo entry was released with Diablo III in 2012. Suffice to say, fans are growing inpatient for a new entry. And after six years to reveal a Diablo mobile game hasn’t sat well with many fans.
Three, there is controversy around the game and whether or not it’s a re-skin of the developer’s previous game. For those that don’t know, Blizzard isn’t internally developing the project, but has dished it out to NetEase, a Chinese studio known for making mobile titles. And many are fans are convinced Diablo Immortal is nothing more than NetEase’s Endless of God, slightly reworked and reskinned.
And fourth, it appears Blizzard has been deleting comments on the games’ YouTube trailer. If you read the top comments, you’ll see multiple people claiming their previous comments were deleted. Further, there was even a Reddit post about it.
Whatever the case, there’s one thing that’s clear. Diablo fans — at least the ones on forums, social media, and YouTube — aren’t very happy with Diablo Immortal, and it appears the mobile title is doomed from the jump.
For those that don’t know: Diablo Immortal takes place between Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and Diablo III, and is a massively multiplayer online action-rpg that Blizzard pitches as a “true Diablo hack-and-slash adventure.”
At the moment, there’s no word of a when the game will release, but Blizzard has confirmed it won’t be coming to PC, which also likely means it won’t be shipping to consoles either.
