Blizzard: "It's a dream" to bring Diablo to mobile devices

Diablo Immortal was revealed last week at BlizzCon.

[DarkVoyager]

“Blizzard: "It's a dream" to bring Diablo to mobile devices“

It’s a dream I won’t be a part of. Blizzard have no standards anymore.

[TiredandRetired]

"It's a dream, looking at that rising money graph in the mobile games space", says Blizzard, while selling out on the fans who built them.

[il-JumperMT]

blizzard didnt have standards since wow

[rainslacker]

"It's a dream to bring Diablo to mobile devices."

"Which is why we outsourced the work to a foreign developer and basically put a new coat of paint on another game."

Dream realized!!!

[UltraDSA]

Well said, what kind of dream gets treated like that? lol

[n1kki6]

As long as they are creating a proper diablo 4 why does it matter to you?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Not my dream Blizzard have with your "rebornsd" fanbase.

[Relientk77]

My dream is for Diablo 4 on PC. I don't want and I'm not supporting some mobile cash grab microtransaction version of Diablo.

[zombiewombie]

I hope Im wrong, but I think their mobile game is a test bed on how they can monetize their future diablo games.

[Bhuahahaha]

i have a better dream diablo 1 & 2 remake (havent play both)

[SoulWarrior]

Are they just ignoring the backlash from the fanbase and fanning the flames on purpose? Smh Blizzard.

[rainslacker]

No. We have to support their dream.

[rainslacker]

I think the disagrees don't realize I was being sarcastic.

[PapaBop]

To be fair, I dream of making stupid amounts of money with minimum amount of effort needed too.

[TheColbertinator]

That's my American dream.

[rainslacker]

If you do that...you can finally get a mobile phone, and play the Crusaders of Light with the Diablo mod.

Its great that mods are finally coming to mobile. Its long overdue. I'm so glad that Blizzard is cool with them, and not restricting their use.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

"It's a dream that we can take all money from those 0.1% players who are whales"

[Cmv38]

Really blizzard? Diablo on mobile is a dream? You all have some really pointless dreams.

[XentaJones]

Yeah thing we can not do on other platforms, monitize it like a bitch and make millions and millions.

[Smokehouse]

It’s not just blizzard, it’s a lot of these companies and I have been burned every time. “New announcement by an awesome studio in 4 days!” People speculate for days and then get let down by some mobile game. It’s the bad part of hype.

The truth is that the casual market is like an oil pocket, sometimes you just catch a freak stream but it’s worth it. Casual is the new gold rush. There is a solution to stop people getting burned and it’s really simple. Stop trying to build hype for your casual games. Use transparency for your mobile games instead of the speculation hype, it backfires too much. The kind people who go to these shows and get hyped for your products don’t care about mobile. The mobile people don’t care about your trade show. Save it for basic tv advertising.

[Kabaneri]

So far its a nightmare for investors.

[Sirk7x]

Doubtful, shareholders are probably loving it. They know it's going to bounce back, and when the stock drops, they can just buy more. This game is going to make bank and have probably millions of downloads within the first couple days. Even pissed off people will end up with morbid curiousity lol.

[Smokehouse]

Exactly. A stock drop doesn’t mean a loss or anger it just means uncertainty. They dip during elections also and many other factors. Stocks dip all of the time and it doesn’t take long to bounce back especially with something as simple as a blizzard game. Anyone who thinks blizzard was hurt by this or see this as a victory is shortsighted.

[generationjeu]

A true dream come true... for shareholders

[Tankbusta40]

Its such a dream they outsourced to a Chinese company to make the game

[Sirk7x]

Hey, don't talk down on their dream$.

[northpaws]

Nightmare is a dream too.

[jznrpg]

Crappy dream. Of course it’s a dream for Blizzard, people on phones spend money on crappy MTs like money is nothing

[Elda]

Diablo should be on PC & consoles period.

[zahdab]

What is obvious to me is the game is developped by a third party ... blizzard is likely working on diablo 4 but are not ready to show it yet ... lots of devs release games on mobile including blizzard in the past.

Wherther i get a ton of dilikes or not ... i understand that not every game annouced by a developer caters to my preferences.
It has to be said ... grow up and wait...

99% of the people backlashing are gonna be thrilled about diablo 4 when they annouce it ... 80% will backlash again after it releases to crtical acclaim coz diablo 3 was way better in their optinion...

[rainslacker]

People aren't so mad that they made a mobile game. I don't recall a huge backlash over hearthstone.

They're more upset at the venue that Blizzard announced the game, and more so at their subsequent handling of the criticism.

If they announced this on the back of a Diablo game, or were maybe hinting more at D4, instead of just going after the critics as if their opinion didn't matter, then people would probably be OK with it. Many may even give it the benefit of the doubt and play it.

[zahdab]

what did blizzard annouce over the span of the last 6 years for diablo ? reapers of souls expansion and the rise of the necromancer....
Diablo 2 release in 2000 ... diablo 3 release in 2012 ... if the complicated math is correct it took them 12 years to release diablo 3
News flash just because they partnered up with an external dev to handle a mobile IP doesn't make anything different, this has always been blizzard!

they are still selling a subscription service to WOW which is 14 years old game with expansions ... but still a 14 years old piece of tech!!!! ... the service costs 180 $ a year ( after paying up for every expansion 'which are now worthless coz they are free with the subscribtion) more than the 3 times the price of a subscription service of PSN and Xbox, services that give people dozens of free games per year.

They've been asking their fan to pay up to go watch them announce new games and they pay up to go to the "Blizz con" where the community meets and act like a community ... except when blizzard announces a mobile game they turn into angry protesters. ...

And you want to tell me that given all of that ... a mobile game deserves a backlash ... sorry but wake up Blizzard has always been screwing their fans while they've been enjoying it and asking for more .... so blah i don't see a point to all the backlash, Blizzard has always been bout milking their products and their fans dry.

[rainslacker]

I'm not denying they are working on D4. In fact, given some of the things I've seen said, its very likely.

And no, a mobile game doesn't deserve backlash. Revealing a mobile game at a event where your most die hard fans pay money to attend, and have to make accommodations to attend, is just really bad judgement, because the PC and console fan bases generally aren't all that into mobile games. We groan about such things on here when it happens, but we move on, because they picked a more appropriate venue, and that is in spite of the fact that there is often no other game in the franchise we were hoping for being worked on. Why would Blizzard have any better reaction to their announcement. Of all the things they could have announced at this conference, they chose a mobile game.

Do you know how much it costs to attend Blizzcon? Minimum $199 per person, plus for many travel expenses, hotel rooms, and food for a weekend. One of the best things about these conferences for many is the expectation of some exciting reveal. If you paid that much, and got a mobile game announcement, would you be, "Well shoot, that's disappointing, but at least I can wait until they announce the D4 trailer and I can watch it at home, and not get to share in the excitement with all my fellow Blizzard fans right here in this big auditorium....that'll be just as good."

Some of the initial reactions of fans may have been misplaced, particularly in dismissing this game because its mobile, it doesn't excuse the fact that this isn't the kind of thing you announce at a venue like that. It'd be like going XO18 and having MS announce they're releasing their next Fable game on mobile....although much worse because Blizzard fans are probably the most passionate fan base in gaming.

But, that wasn't the worst of what Blizzard did. They actively and purposefully insulted and dismissed their fans concerns, which only led to make others stand up with them, and they keep fanning the flames with more talk about mobile as if they think its what people want to hear....or they think if they say it enough times, people will just be OK with it.

I'm not sure why you bring up Blizzards WOW game or subscription. They actually give you something for that sub with constant updates which always added content. You point out that people have been waiting a long time for D4...and they have...which only made the announcement of a mobile game all that more upsetting.

[zahdab]

Cost what it may cost ... if you're paying 200$ plus accommodations + plane tickets to attend an event for a dev that has literally released less than 5 games in the last 10 years and u're disappointing coz well they didnt announce a new game ... u're probably delusional...
Warcraft 3 is getting remaster... Statecraft one got remastered last year
Overwatch got a new hero... it did last year
Diablo 3 is getting a switch release ... it got a new character last year
Bonus!!! new mobile diablo game !!! Screw this !!! we dont want this !! booooooooooooooo

Did people get less value than they did last year ? ... nope ...

no new starcraft game ... check
no new pc/console diablo game ... check
no new overwatch game ... check
no new Warcraft game ... check
WOW is well sucking more subscription money out of anyone that cares as it did every year .... check

seems pretty consistent year after year to me

[rainslacker]

Blizzard has always had some kind of big announcement, or at least a first showing of whatever they were coming out with during these events. Often, it was for a WOW expansion, but also things like Diablo, or SC2. So, the expectations are born from their own history. Sure, maybe people should have tempered their expectations, but I'm sure many would have preferred anything other than a mobile Blizzard game. The difference between all those games you mentioned, and this mobile games, is all those games are ones that cater to the attendees of their show. A mobile game might cater to it, but not as a primary product. It's maybe about akin to Heartstone, and what they showed of it wasn't all that impressive either way.

Defend it all you want, but Blizzard either greatly miscalculated their audience here, or knowingly did this knowing that it would bring a lot more attention to the game than they would have gotten otherwise. If its the latter, then shame on them for making people pay for their marketing schemes.

[CrimsonWing69]

Seems like it’s a nightmare for you guys now, but sure when the money rolls in what does it matter, right?

[MWH]

fine but you should also focus on fulfilling your loyal gamers' dream as well, the people who put you on the map in the first place. Remember them.

[inxine]

well, that backfired, didnt it lol.

[Godmars290]

Except its being done in name only, buy a subcontractor who's done clone versions besides.

[TheGoodestBoi]

More like in your dreams that I will be buying it

[InKnight7s]

Its not special at all, Final Fantasy is on mobile first 9 games and even only mobile games. What makes Blizzards thinks its a dream? Even MMORPG is reaching to mobiles. I think playing Overwarch would be considered an achievement other than that its just below meh stage.

[Dragonscale]

One mans dream is another mans nightmare.

[bluefox755]

*eyeroll* It's a "dream" to get a slice of that mobile gaming revenue. Low investment, high return, of course they're going to mobile.

[iofhua]

I don't understand how an ARPG would even work on a touchscreen. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

A dream? More like a nightmare.

[touche09]

If that was the dream, welcome to the nightmare...

[devind]

Immortal will sell like crazy. Sheer curiosity will drive the games sales through the rough.

[King_Noctis]

But the game is free.

[rainslacker]

And for a game based around MT, that's curiosity is all it takes to get people playing. If people can become hooked, even if only a small portion, then they have a chance to make money. The game may be good, but people aren't really upset its a mobile game, just the way Blizzard handled the announcement, and how they handled the criticism.

I will agree with your comment below though....WC4 would be awesome. It's long overdue, and while WOW was good to serve up some WC lore for years, it got old after a while.

[King_Noctis]

It’s also a dream for gamers to have Diablo IV and Warcraft IV.