Diablo Immortal

Diablo Immortal is an upcoming action role-playing hack and slash video game in the Diablo series designed for online multiplayer play on mobile devices. Developed by Blizzard and NetEase, the game was announced in late 2018 and is planned for release on Android and iOS with no set release date.

Diablo Immortal
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Director(s)Wyatt Cheng
SeriesDiablo 
Platform(s)Android, iOS
Genre(s)Action role-playing, hack and slash
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Gameplay

Diablo Immortal is a massively multiplayer online action game in the Diablo series designed for play on mobile devices.[1] The fast-paced[2] Immortal is set between the events of Diablo II and Diablo III,[3] and borrows the look and feel of the latter.[2]

The game is designed for a touchscreen, with virtual controls that overlay the display: a directional thumbstick and ability buttons. The player can aim the ability by holding its button.[2] Each of the six character classes—Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, Necromancer, Demon Hunter, and Crusader[3]—have four abilities,[4] which differ across character classes. For example, the Barbarian's class abilities include a slamming hammer and turning into a whirlwind, while the Wizard's abilities include a beam of electricity that boomerangs back to its source, dealing damage twice.[2] Skills generally aim towards the nearest enemy.[4] Blizzard plans for each class to have 12 unlockable skills, from which the player choose five to use concurrently.[4]

Defeated enemies drop items ("loot") that can be equipped via a pop-up button.[4] Players can join and leave groups that play through "dynamic events".[1] Unlike other Diablo series games, in the Immortal preview, the mana resource is removed and newly equipped items do not change the visual appearance of the player's character.[4]

Development

Immortal is co-developed by Blizzard and NetEase.[1] The latter developer had been Blizzard's partner for Chinese market releases.[3] Blizzard intended to bring the core Diablo experience to the smartphone platform. As a result, its interfaces reflect choices that would make that experience best fit the medium.[5] By designing for a smartphone gaming audience, Immortal was designed to reach demographics and geographic regions that use mobile phones as their main gaming platform and may not otherwise interact with Diablo on other gaming platforms.[5]

The game is planned for release on Android and iOS platforms.[3] No release date is set.[6] Players can pre-register on the game's website for admission to playtest the beta.[1] Blizzard also announced plans to keep the Immortal experience fresh after its initial release with the regular addition of stories and characters.[1] The game was announced at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon in November 2018.

On February 21, 2019, NetEase's CFO, Yang Zhaoxuan, stated that the game was "pretty much ready" and still planned for a 2019 release; however, he stated that Blizzard would be the ones to determine the exact release timetable.[7]

In November 2019, during BlizzCon, Blizzard posted an update on its official blog, confirming that Immortal was still in development; however, it stated that there was still no specific release date for the game, because "It takes significant time to meet the Blizzard quality level we’re aiming for, and we have a lot of ambitious goals for Diablo Immortal." Additional details confirmed in the post included six playable classes (Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, and Wizard), and chargeable, class-specific 'ultimate' abilities.[8]

At the start of August 2020, at ChinaJoy, Blizzard and NetEase released a new gameplay trailer for Immortal, showcasing each of the six playable classes, and featuring the first appearance of Baal, one of the main antagonists from Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction.[9]

Reception

Pre-release

Response to Immortal's announcement was largely negative.[5] While traditional gaming audiences often express skepticism towards diluted mobile versions of a cherished franchise, the Diablo series community's discontent was compounded by their anticipation for a larger announcement.[3][5] They expressed their discontent through online channels, likening Immortal to a reskin of one of NetEase's prior games, Crusaders of Light.[3] Blizzard responded that Immortal is but one Diablo series game in active development, and pointed to the company's multi-platform development experience and the success of the mobile version of Hearthstone as evidence of Blizzard's capacity to overcome uncertainty and do right by their core audience.[5] Blizzard also responded to a rumor that they had withheld announcement of a main Diablo sequel due to the negative response at Immortal's reveal; Blizzard stated "we didn’t pull any announcements from BlizzCon this year or have plans for other announcements. We do continue to have different teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects, and we look forward to announcing when the time is right."[10]

After the reveal at BlizzCon, developers participated in a Q&A with attendees. Two particular questions leveled at Wyatt Cheng, Principal Game Designer at Blizzard, drew significant attention from media and audiences alike, with one attendee asking if the announcement was an "out of season April Fools' joke",[11][12] and another asking if it there was a possibility for a PC release, leading to the crowd booing when the answer was negative.[13][14][15]

Following the announcement, Activision Blizzard's stock fell 7% on the first weekday of trading.[16][17][18][19][20] As of June 20, 2020, the two official trailers on YouTube stand at 338 thousand downvotes to 26 thousand upvotes for the gameplay trailer,[21] and 760 thousand downvotes to 31 thousand upvotes for the cinematic trailer.[22]

Previews of the game's demo approved of the game's controls,[2][4] its interface having been tested by prior NetEase games,[4] though Polygon's reviewer noted difficulties in precision controls.[2] The locked abilities made some character classes less enjoyable to play; for example, the Wizard's long cast times and cooldown timers made the class less effective in groups.[4]

Demo reviewers felt that where Immortal captured the series' look and feel, it omitted some of its core tenets,[2][4] or as Polygon put it, Diablo's "soul".[2] Whereas the mobile game captured the basic Diablo experience, the reviewers questioned whether the new entry had enough new content to remain fresh.[2][4]

References
  1. Farokhmanesh, Megan (November 2, 2018). "Diablo is getting a full-fledged mobile RPG". The Verge. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  2. Gilliam, Ryan (November 2, 2018). "Diablo: Immortal feels like a Diablo game, just not one that's for me". Polygon. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  3. Good, Owen S. (November 2, 2018). "Diablo fans call Diablo: Immortal a reskin of a free-to-play mobile game". Polygon. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  4. Grayson, Nathan (November 3, 2018). "Diablo Immortal Is A Simplified DiabloMaybe Too Simplified". Kotaku. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  5. McWhertor, Michael (November 3, 2018). "Blizzard responds to Diablo: Immortal backlash". Polygon. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  6. Welsh, Oli (November 2, 2018). "There's an all-new Diablo game called Diablo Immortal". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  7. "NetEase Quashes Talk of Chinese Gaming Approval Suspensions". Bloomberg. February 21, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  8. Boyle, Emma (November 2, 2019). "BlizzCon brings new Diablo Immortal details". TechRadar. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  9. Gilliam, Ryan (August 3, 2020). "Blizzard shows off new Diablo Immortal gameplay". Polygon. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  10. Wade, Jessie (November 5, 2018). "Update: Blizzard Says It 'Didn't Pull Any Announcements From Blizzcon'". IGN. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  11. Knoop, Joseph (November 3, 2018). "'Is this an April Fools joke?' Blizzard fans are having a fit over the new Diablo mobile game". The Daily Dot. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  12. Eli Becht (November 2, 2018). "WATCH: Fan Asks If Diablo: Immortal Is April Fool's Joke". Heavy.com. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  13. Kuchera, Ben (November 5, 2018). "Diablo: Immortal broke the unspoken rules of Blizzard, and BlizzCon". Polygon. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  14. Khan, Asif (November 2, 2018). "Fans react to Diablo Immortal like disrespectful edgelords at BlizzCon 2018's Q&A". ShackNews. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  15. Workman, Robert (November 4, 2018). "'Diablo Immortal' Gets Heavy Ire From Die-Hard Blizzard Fans". ComicBook.com. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  16. Tassi, Paul (November 6, 2018). "'Diablo Immortal' BlizzCon Backlash Leads To Activision Stock Slide". Forbes. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  17. Noonan, Keith (November 11, 2018). "Fans Hate Activision Blizzard's Newest Game. Should Investors Be Worried?". The Motley Fool. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  18. Taylor, Haydn (November 6, 2018). "Activision Blizzard stock tumbles following Diablo Immortal backlash". GameIndustry.biz. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  19. Makuch, Eddie (November 5, 2018). "Activision Blizzard Stock Drops Following Diablo Drama At BlizzCon". GameSpot. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  20. Scott-Jones, Richard (November 6, 2018). "Activision-Blizzard's stock crashes 7% after Diablo: Immortal Reveal". PCGamesN. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  21. "Diablo Immortal Gameplay Trailer". YouTube. November 2, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  22. "Diablo Immortal Cinematic Trailer". YouTube. November 2, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2020.

Further reading
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