Between AAA action classic and free-to-play game: Blizzard received a lot of criticism for “Diablo Immortal”. How will the further path of the action role-playing game look like?
The “Diablo” community is in turmoil. The smartphone offshoot “Immortal”, which has also been implemented for PC, proves to be a gambling hell full of microtransactions and pay-to-win mechanisms, especially in the endgame. A huge shitstorm swept over Blizzard on social media. On the Metacritic rating portal, “Diablo Immortal” ranks at the very bottom end of the rating scale with a user score of 0.3 (PC version) and 0.4 (iOS version).
Accordingly, many were concerned about what “Immortal” might mean for the concept behind the “Diablo IV” in development. Blizzard has now given the all-clear and stated that the monetization of the fourth part of the action role-playing game would not be as in “Diablo Immortal”. But the uncertainty remains!
Blizzard completely drove the community work in front of the wall and communicated “Immortal” miserably to the outside world. The conversion of the smartphone game for PC was a massive mistake, since the same product was aimed at two completely different target groups. And last but not least, Blizzard will be on two tracks in the future and has established a profitable free-to-play offshoot in addition to the large standalone offshoot, which, despite all the criticism, is currently flushing 50 million US dollars a month into the coffers.
Blizzard promised too much
The story of Diablo Immortal is full of misunderstandings. Do you remember Blizzcon 2018? At the time, a fan asked developer Wyatt Cheng if the game would stay on mobile devices forever or if there was a chance for a PC port. Cheng said no and received boos for it. The Blizzard team and Cheng asked a bit snidely, “Guys, don’t you have smartphones?”
But that wasn’t the only mistake. The announcement that “Diablo Immortal” would be a “complete and comprehensive Diablo experience” weighed more heavily. As a result, the demands and expectations of PC gamers grew immeasurably. The result should look very different. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the game never made it to the market due to its loot box mechanic and local gambling laws.
The devil is in the core of the poodle
To be clear: “Diablo” is a matter of the heart for the die-hard community. It’s about childhood memories, nights of gambling with friends and going on adventures. This debate was emotionally charged. And of course, Diablo Immortal is an endgame gauntlet where you can’t escape pay-to-win and microtransaction mechanics. “Diablo Immortal” was specifically developed so that you first get hooked and later can hardly avoid using real money.
The latter in particular is of course a huge problem, which many people rightly get annoyed about and denounce it accordingly. Other problems came with the porting for PC. Because the “Diablo” base based there did not accept the differently designed mobile offshoot. Not only because of the monetization options, but also because of the overall gameplay that is too superficial and the story that is steamed down. Was that still “Diablo”? Yes, but in a completely different form. Blizzard should never have brought Immortal to PC. That would have saved the team a lot of trouble.
The Future of Diablo
But what does this scandal mean for the series? Blizzard will go two ways in the future: on mobile devices and on the major platforms such as PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. As strong as the headwind for “Diablo Immortal” was, the sales so far speak for themselves. The mobile target group has so far remained untouched and, from a purely economic point of view, Blizzard would be stupid if they weren’t also targeted.
How the whole thing was implemented remains morally highly questionable, of course. Nobody expects a video game to come completely free. However, in its “streamlined” orientation, “Diablo Immortal” almost perfidiously forces you into your wallet. As long as “Immortal” yields enough, Blizzard will also support the project.
At the same time, the “big” “Diablo” franchise will continue – for example with the fourth part in the coming year. Blizzard will certainly test monetization options here as well and tweak it with updates. Nevertheless, in terms of gameplay, structure and story, we will return to the hard core and adapt the loot management accordingly.
Diablo 4 News:
“Diablo” becomes a precedent for Blizzard, which illustrates the current company orientation: Away from the classic business with the full versions towards service-driven games with integrated payment options. Where else does this lead? See how, for example, in early October with the free-to-play launch of “Overwatch 2”!
More Diablo 4 News, Diablo Immortal, Column, Opinion.
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