Revisiting Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal blunder

Image source: androidpolice.com
Just the very notion of playing Diablo on a mobile phone is cringe-worthy for die-hard fans of the Diablo franchise. Once upon a time, it was a running joke in the offices of the game’s developer Blizzard, one used for April Fool’s jokes. Now, things have gone 360, and the once-admired gaming company is actually releasing a mobile game called Diablo Immortal.


During the recent Blizzcon this 2018, one displeased fan even asked during the Q & A portion of the reveal of the mobile Diablo game was just an “out of season April Fool’s joke,” which generated contemptuous laughter from the many solid gamers present. After all, it was totally unexpected, given previous little hints by Blizzard that there’s a major Diablo game coming out.

It’s totally understandable that a huge backlash came shortly after the announcement. It’s not only pandering to a huge market in China for mobile games but also coming across as Blizzard’s unfortunate sanctioning of microtransactions. Gamers everywhere understand that Diablo has always been a PC-first game, and this turnaround has left the community aghast in true disappointment. 
Image source: youtube.com


What followed is one of the worst handlings of a game’s PR. Blizzard apparently started deleting tons of negative comments for its trailers of Diablo Immortal, which just days after the reveal had over 90 percent dislikes on YouTube. The stocks of its partner company Activision likewise went down by millions of dollars.


The only way Blizzard can really get out of this mess is to commit to releasing the fourth iteration of Diablo for the PC in Blizzon 2019. For now, the developer should just take in all the negative publicity and hopefully learn its lesson. It was a huge, ironic blunder for such a respected PC-gaming company. No one, absolutely none, of its true-blue fans had expected to be given what essentially amounts to Diabloville for Facebook instead.


Hi, my name is Steve Sorensen, a former aircraft technician turned maker of staffs, canes, and wands at my garage-turned-workshop. I’m also an avid fan of fantasy and video games. For similar reads, check out this blog. 

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