Blizzard Response To Diablo Immortal Backlash: Multiple Diablo Projects In Development

The announcement of a Diablo mobile game at BlizzCon opening ceremony received a massive backlash from fans. In this situation, Blizzard has instantaneously made a response that there are multiple Diablo projects in development.

Backlash towards Diablo Immortal

Diablo Immortal is a brand new action role-playing hack-and-slash video game in the Diablo universe. It is exclusive to mobiles. In order to develop this game, Blizzard has collaborated with NetEase, a Chinese video game company. At BlizzCon 2018, the upcoming video game was announced and introduced to fans as an endnote for their opening ceremony. This announcement instantly disappointed Diablo fans, who had been waiting for a continuation of Diablo 3. It is understandable because it's been over 6 years since Diablo 3 was dropped. Afterward, all the anger and mockery quickly turned into an unprecedented backlash on social media and websites. Diablo Immortal's announcement trailer is flooded with a massive dislike ratio. The furious emotion was demonstrated when an attendee at BlizzCon 2018 stood up and asked Immortal developer if the game was "an early April Fool's joke".

It can be seen that the root of the uproar is due to the badly mishandling during BlizzCon panel and the entire BlizzCon Diablo plan. Ahead of BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard unveiled that: “We currently have multiple teams working on different Diablo projects and we can’t wait to tell you all about them . . . when the time is right. We know what many of you are hoping for and we can only say that “good things come to those who wait,” but evil things often take longer.”

Blizzard had assumed that every fan got their "unclear message" that Diablo 4, the game everyone clearly wants to see, would not be announced at BlizzCon. Actually, most fans have no idea, and they got the idea that the new mobile game will replace Diablo 4.

Blizzard's reaction towards fans' anger

In response to the massive backlash, Blizzard has confirmed 2 main points:

First, multiple Diablo projects have been, and are being, developed and there will be more Diablo games in the future.

“We have said that we have multiple Diablo teams working on multiple Diablo projects and that remains true, even after releasing [Diablo 3 for Nintendo] Switch and announcing Diablo: Immortal,” said Allen Adham,  Blizzard executive producer and co-founder. “We still have multiple Diablo teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects. Diablo is a tentpole franchise for us. And it always will be. We love it. We hope our fans understand what we’re saying when we say that."

Second, Diablo Immortal is just the beginning, and mobile games are the "big initiative" for Blizzard in the future.

"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."