Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo didn’t have the hottest weekend. Diablo Immortal for mobile phones was revealed at BlizzCon 2018 and met with a strong amount of backlash. While Blizzard did expect some amount of this, it probably didn’t envision shares for Activision Blizzard dropping when the New York Stock Exchange opened yesterday.

According to The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Needleman on Twitter, stock value dropped by roughly 7 percent and closed at $64.34 (current value is at $64.52). Previously, stock value was at $68.99. Research firm Cowen and Company told investors in a recent note (via GameSpot), “Blizzard severely miscalculated how their fans would respond, which suggests they aren’t in touch with their players as maybe they should be.”

The firm also posited that making money with Diablo Immortal could be difficult, simply because the Western market functions differently in regards to additional payments. Of course, we don’t yet know if the mobile title will be free to play or premium. Blizzard has yet to confirm how the monetization model will work, especially with free updates and the like promised.

Cowen and Company further stated that a tease for the next big Diablo sequel might have helped Blizzard avoid all these headaches. Recent reports (which were later rectified) by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier indicate that a video with Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham discussing the next Diablo was recorded. Whether this was meant to be showcased at BlizzCon 2018 or not, Blizzard insists that it didn’t pull any announcements from the show.

$ATVI Shares Tumble on Negative Gamer Sentiment — Market Talk pic.twitter.com/VwLDSte8zM

— Sarah E. Needleman (@saraheneedleman) November 6, 2018

Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal generated its fair share of negative reactions from BlizzCon attendees and fans. The lack of news for any major sequel to Diablo 3 a.k.a. the coveted Diablo 4 also further annoyed a large number of people. However, a report from Kotaku stated yesterday that the announcement was planned for BlizzCon 2018, with Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham planned to talk to fans in a pre-recorded video about the same.

However, in a recent update, Blizzard has denied that any such announcement was to take place. “First off we want to mention that we definitely hear our community,” says Blizzard. “We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but we can say that 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.”

Sources familiar to Blizzard’s plans told Jason Schreier of Kotaku in yesterday’s report that a video was recorded and mentioned a new Diablo project. While Schreier notes that Diablo 4 (or whatever is being referred to as such) is in development, having changed drastically over the past several years – including two iterations under two directors – the video with Adham in question was never released. Whether it was actually planned for BlizzCon 2018 is also up for debate, and Kotaku have updated their story accordingly.

Regardless, the core Diablo team is still busy with different projects, while a separate team handles Diablo Immortal. The latter is in development for iOS and Android devices, with no plans to release for PC.

Update: Blizzard has denied having any such plans. You can read that story here.

Original story:

One of the big reasons there has been so much rage about Diablo: Immortal’s announcement has been the larger context surrounding it. This was an announcement played up by Blizzard for the better part of a year, and all that fans got out of it by the end was a mobile game.

It would have been fine if this had been accompanied by something like a tease for an upcoming mainline game—this is the strategy Bethesda employed with The Elder Scrolls Blades and The Elder Scrolls 6, or Nintendo with Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Prime 4, or Microsoft with Gears POP and Gears 5. But to only get Diablo: Immortal out of it was a bit deflating.

However, according to a report published by Kotaku, it wasn’t always planned to be this way. In fact, Diablo 4 was meant to be the final announcement at BlizzCon, with company co-founder Allen Adham telling the audience in a pre-recorded video that a proper Diablo 4 was in development but not ready to show for now. The video was pulled at the last minute, with the Kotaku report citing development troubles the game has run into — including two reboots of the game’s development, as well as multiple changes in the overall direction and the director leading the project — as possible reasons, with Blizzard presumably not wanting to commit publicly to a project that is so in flux internally

If this is true, then this paints a worrying picture overall—of course, we didn’t get the Diablo 4 announcement, but it also sounds like the game is in development hell, and, assuming the report is true, years away from release. Diablo 3 is now six years old, nearing seven, and content for it has slowed to less than a drip. Fans of Blizzard’s franchise may be in for an arduously long wait before they get back at it, it seems like.

Much like Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 3 (at least on PC), the upcoming mobile MMO action RPG Diablo Immortal will also not be playable offline. Though players can play solo – evidenced by the BlizzCon demo offering a choice between finishing a dungeon solo or with a party – you’ll need an internet connection to play regardless.

This was confirmed by lead game designer Wyatt Cheng, who told VG247 that “the game would not allow you to” play offline. Honestly, it’s not all that surprising, especially considering the heavy online focus of games on mobile. Besides, Diablo Immortal places a pretty strong emphasis on instanced areas with random players, and on being massively multiplayer. Without an online connection, that experience would be stifled.

Diablo Immortal is currently in development for iOS and Android devices. It’s being handled by NetEase Games, whose titles like Crusaders of Light have drawn ire for their excessive microtransactions. Blizzard hasn’t commented on the game’s monetization yet, indicating that it’s still in early development. Stay tuned for more information on that front.

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.

If you missed the opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2018 – or even the admittedly tense Overwatch World Cup – there was quite a bit to digest. No, we’re not talking about South Korea winning for the third year in a row. Along with announcing Warcraft 3: Reforged, Blizzard revealed that it was working with NetEase Games on Diablo Immortal. This MMO action RPG would be coming to mobile platforms in the future.

Naturally, fans expressed their disappointment, with many calling the announcement a “slap in the face”. Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham recently spoke to Kotaku about expecting backlash (though “not to this degree”) and clarified a few things about the game’s development. First, he reaffirmed that Diablo Immortal is being handled by a separate team. The core Diablo team is busy with other things.

“There are actually two distinct teams,” he said. “That’s something we tried to communicate. I know our community here, there’s a concern that we are focused on this instead of that. The truth is that we have multiple Diablo teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects even after announcing [Immortal].”

Some claim that Diablo Immortal is just a reskin of NetEase’s other mobile action RPGs, like Crusaders of Light. Adham denies this, stating that the art and assets for Diablo Immortal were built specifically for the game. “I want to assure you that Diablo Immortal is purpose-built from the ground up.” What about the control scheme and its similarities to NetEase’s title?

Adham replied, “In the East, that control method is becoming ubiquitous, and it’s becoming ubiquitous because it’s very natural, and it feels great. Less so in the West, but we’re now starting to see some games that are bringing that mechanic to the West. So it’s us taking inspiration from some of the work they’ve done already.”

Diablo Immortal is currently in development for iOS and Android devices.

Blizzard Entertainment’s long-awaited Diablo announcement at BlizzCon 2018 was expected to garner an overwhelming reaction. Diablo Immortal – which is an MMO action RPG from NetEase Games that’s heading to iOS and Android – received just that, but leaning far more towards the negative side. That Blizzard didn’t announce anything else aside from the mobile title also rubbed fans the wrong way.

Speaking to Kotaku, Blizzard executive producer and co-founder Allen Adham said the company was expecting backlash, though “not to this degree.” As Adham notes, “We know our audience here is passionately PC- and console-focused. We’ve also seen this before. We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of Hearthstone.”

The real question then is: What about the major sequel that’s meant to follow Diablo 3? Adham said, “That being said, we knew our audience here desperately wants to see and hear about one thing in particular.” That’s why the preemptive blog post before the convention, asking fans not to get their hopes up too high, was posted. Despite this, the reaction to Diablo Immortal reflects a community scorned.

That being said, Adham maintained that game quality mattered more than timing when it came to announcing a new release. “At Blizzard, we don’t announce things until we’re ready. It’s all about game quality, less about timing, all about delivering an overwhelming experience to our players. We tried to get ahead of that a little bit with the blog post to let that group know that we are working on multiple things and continue to work on multiple things. But it’s pretty clear that their incredible passion for Diablo manifests in interesting ways.”

Regardless of how fans feel about Diablo Immortal, it’s pretty obvious that there are things waiting in the wings. Unfortunately, it may be another year until we hear about them, at the very least.

While the announcement of Diablo: Immortal has received significant backlash from fans, BlizzCon 2018 attendees did receive one oft-requested title. That’s Warcraft 3: Reforged, a remaster of the classic real-time strategy title that features completely redone graphics. Of course, there’s a lot more changing this time around than you’d think.

PC Gamer spoke to QA test lead Nicholas Louie at BlizzCon, and he stated that some campaign maps have been pretty significantly modified. “When you get a chance to take a look at The Culling of Stratholme, you’ll see we’ve pretty heavily modified the map,” he said. “The map layout is entirely different from the way it originally looked in Warcraft 3.

“We thought it was important for this important story beat, for both the overall story as well as for Arthas, as he starts down his fall as a paladin and down the path of becoming a Lich King, that we bring parity to what people are familiar with, where Warcraft is today, World of Warcraft specifically. So when you get a chance to look at the map, you’ll notice that it looks like the Stratholm map in World of Warcraft.”

Various assets, like character models and environments, are being redone, but you can also expect cutscenes to receive a major revamp as well. Voice overs are all being re-recorded. It sounds like a dream come true, but what about multiplayer fans? According to designer Michael Scipione, the impetus to not “break the game” is there, but the development team would still “like to see some changes.”

If you’re wondering where the original Warcraft 3 fits in, especially since it’s received numerous updates, features, and balance changes over the past year, owners of that game can play against Warcraft 3: Reforged players. “Because they are based on the same engine, that allows people with the normal version of Warcraft 3, non-Reforged, to play with those who have the Reforged version,” Scipione said. “There is a lot of custom maps out there, so we’re going to have to respond to areas where, if something perhaps doesn’t work, we’ll look into responding to that. But the idea is that these two groups of players should be able to be friends, and play with each other.”

Warcraft 3: Reforged is out in 2019 for PC, and will include expansion packs Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne.

Blizzard Entertainment announced a new Diablo at BlizzCon 2018, but it’s not the one you’re thinking. Diablo Immortal is an MMO action RPG that brings the universe to mobile devices. It’s in development for Android and iOS devices by NetEase Games, and will take place after Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, but before Diablo 3.

The cinematic trailer reveal featured six classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Monk, Necromancer, Wizard, and Demon Hunter – with more classes promised in the future. Players will also receive “new storylines, new playable character classes, new loot, and all-new challenges” over time. Forming parties will be possible in Westmarch, the game’s central hub, and there will be dynamic events across different zones, instanced dungeons, and locations like Zoltun Kulle and Wortham to discover.

J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment, stated, “Diablo Immortal takes the series’ dark, gothic fantasy world of Sanctuary and inimitable Diablo gameplay, and puts it in your pocket. With their incredible passion for Diablo and proven mobile expertise, the development team has spawned an ultra-responsive and breathtakingly beautiful mobile game, and we can’t wait for players to get their hands on it.”

The reaction thus far has been very negative. At the time of writing, the cinematic trailer has 61,000 dislikes as opposed to 2,400 likes while the gameplay trailer is currently at 32,000 dislikes versus 1,500 likes. If the game looks interesting enough, players can head here to pre-register and partake in future beta tests, along with earning in-game rewards.

A new Overwatch cinematic debuted at the BlizzCon 2018 opening ceremony. It focused on McCree… or more specifically, his old gang, the Deadlock Rebels. Here, we meet their leader Ashe for the first time, as she and her goons try to stop McCree from taking a valuable package. Cue the classic Clint Eastwood-style showdown.

The cinematic was meant to introduce Ashe, but more importantly, we got a look at another character. This sentient AI-like Omnic was brought back to life by McCree, and essentially left to rendezvous with the Overwatch crew. The real question is, as with Brigitte’s appearance in Reinhardt’s short last year: How long before she becomes a hero?

Regardless, Ashe is coming up next, and will likely arrive on the PC’s Public Test Realm server in the next couple of days. More news is emerging from BlizzCon 2018, including the announcement of Diablo Immortal (which hasn’t gone down too well) and Warcraft 3: Reforged, so stay tuned for more information.