The road to Diablo Immortal’s release has been a rocky one, but we now have a better idea of when we can finally expect some players to gain access to the game. Activision-Blizzard recently confirmed in their Q4 2019 results that the controversial mobile game that is being developed with NetEase will begin “its first regional tests” during the “middle of 2020.”
This soft launch practice is common for mobile games, which will sometimes release in smaller regions like the Philippines before expanding to bigger markets like North America. This release window is significant as Blizzard has been quite coy about when Diablo Immortal would release until now. While they are were gung-ho about the game at its Blizzcon 2018 announcement, it was met with immense backlash as it was the marquee game of the show and Diablo fans were hungry for the then-unannounced Diablo 4.
Blizzard only talked about the game sporadically since then, with NetEase’s CFO claiming that its release wasn’t too far out in early 2018. That being said, it didn’t reemerge until Blizzcon 2019, where Blizzard only mentioned that “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” in regards to its release. Now that we finally have a firm release window for when it will start to roll out, we may start to see more of Diablo Immortal in the future.
If you are mad about Blizzard’s foray into mobile gaming in general, you may not be happy to hear that they are doubling down on it and games like Diablo Immortal. As was transcribed by PCGamesInsider.biz, J. Allen Brack said “When I think about mobile overall for Blizzard, we have our roots in PC gaming. And we’re going to continue to be deeply committed to the PC. But we do think there are opportunities for additional experiences in different ways for players to engage on different kinds of devices,” during the Q4 conference call.
He also pointed out that Blizzard sees “mobile is also a way to attract players that we don’t currently reach on PC and console. So we think the mobile opportunity for Blizzard overall is very substantial. And Diablo Immortal will be our first release as a mobile-first game. And we continue to work on multiple mobile initiatives across Blizzard in addition to the PC and console games.”
Whether or not you are a fan of Diablo Immortal, the game will finally have a chance to prove itself to players in mid-2020.
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