Diablo, Blizzard’s longest running title, has just announced a move to mobile at Blizzcon.
Diablo Immortal’s storyline will take place between Diablo II and Diablo III. 20 years passed in the Diablo Universe between those two games which were released in 2000 and 2012, respectively.
The story in Diablo Immortal focuses on the aftermath of the destruction of the Worldstone in Diablo II with demonic invaders trying to bring back a rule of terror.
The game will be available on iPhone, iPad and Android and was developed through a partnership with NetEase, a Chinese internet technology company.
The announcement came with some official gameplay and it will be interesting to see how Blizzard adopts the game to a touch-screen format.
Not everyone was excited about this game. Esports journalist Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau was quick and brutal with his critique:
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An idea like Diablo on mobile sounds like something Activision would do. Because nobody wants this. #BlizzCon2018
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) November 2, 2018
George ‘HotshotGG’ Georgallidis, the owner of Counter Logic Gaming, was on the ground at Blizzcon and said he played the game and wasn’t impressed:
For those wondering I played the Diablo mobile to keep an open mind. It plays exactly like every dungeon crawling mobile game skinned with Diablo.
It's meh
— HotshotGG (@CLG_HotshotGG) November 2, 2018
Mobile games are incredibly lucrative when done correctly and that was likely part of the inspiration to move Diablo to a mobile platform.
In addition, mobile gaming is massive in Asia and Activision Blizzard is likely trying to appeal to that region. The partnership with NetEase is another indication that Diablo Immortal may not have been targeted at NA/EU.