Many fans are upset about how Diablo Immortal, the upcoming MMO action RPG for mobiles, was revealed (and how it could potentially be monetized). However, this isn’t a sudden decision that Blizzard just made. The company has been working on establishing a bigger presence on mobile, and this is only the beginning.
Speaking to Digital Trends, Diablo Immortal production director Dan Elggren and Blizzard Entertainment co-founder Allen Adham spoke about how long they’ve had the game in mind. Elggren said: “How long has it been on our minds? Well, if you think about it, we’ve had not only Diablo but all of our franchises, we’ve been talking about mobile and what’s the right experience on a mobile platform. We’ve been working on this for awhile. And we’re continuing some broader initiative.”
Hearthstone also served as a pretty strong influence according to Adham. While it was originally made for desktop PCs, the collectible card game was brought to mobiles as well. “So a few years ago with Hearthstone, it was designed originally for desktop but as a happy sort of coincidence it worked well for mobile. That opened our eyes to a broader opportunity. Then it’s just been a question of surfacing the teams and resources and designs to make this happen,” said Adham.
Long story short, Blizzard is looking to bring out mobile titles spanning all of its IP in the future. Again, plans are sill being made, but this is a big deal for Blizzard, according to Adham. “I can say, without getting overly specific, that we have big plans for the mobile space. It’s a big initiative for us across Blizzard, and you can expect to see more mobile titles from us spanning all of our IPs at some point in the future.”
Diablo Immortal is currently in development for iOS and Android devices. Blizzard didn’t provide a release date, but you can pre-register for it now.
