For anyone not up to date wit hthe whole
Diablo Immortal debacle, Blizzard revealed
Diablo Immortal—a mobile game—as their big announcement during this year's Blizzcon; upsetting longtime fans of the
Diablo series who have been expecting the developer to announce
Diablo 4 for the longest time.
Needless to say, the
Diablo Immortal announcement was not received favourably. Fans aren't to blame here, though, sicne Blizzard announcing a new mobile game is not the problem; announcing it as the convention's main event was. Blizzard has teamed up with Chinese video game developer NetEase to develop
Diablo Immortal, and today Variety has reported that the Chinese developer sees this game as a huge opportunity to show the world what they're capable of.
During a call with Variety, NetEase's company chief financial officer Charles Yang that
Diablo Immortal is a "
huge opportunity to show the world and particularly western gamers NetEase’s strong R&D capabilities".
Adding to Charles Yang's sayings, NetEase CEO William Ding was asked about
Diablo Immortal during the same call, and he mentions that they have had a very pleasant relationship with Blizzard and they hope that
Diablo Immortal will launch worldwide next year.
"
Our time-proven collaboration is almost a decade long with a very, very pleasant partnership with Blizzard, bringing in great experiences to Chinese gamers. And the collaboration on the Diablo mobile game is just another strong testament to this great partnership. We expect if everything goes smoothly that the mobile game of 'Diablo Immortal' will be launched globally next year".
It sure looks like Blizzard and NetEase expect
Diablo Immortal to do well once it releases, but most of the damage has already been made and it will take more than a few promises to please longtime fans of the series who have been wanting a
Diablo sequel since
Diablo 3 was released in 2012; and announcing a mobile game as the convention's main event was a very poor decision by Blizzard, especially if they wanted the game to succeed.
Enter the world of Diablo Immortal, a new entry in the Diablo universe. Taking place between the events of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and Diablo III, this mobile massively multiplayer online ARPG is a true Diablo hack-and-slash adventure, all in the palm of your hand.
Diablo Immortal is expected to be available for Android and iOS in 2019.