There is now a view on the release date of Diablo Immortal. On the night of May 5th, Activision Blizzard released the latest quarterly report. It included the revenues of the games, but also a look ahead to the year 2021.
What does Blizzard say? During the call, it was stated that Diablo Immortal is on schedule for a global release later in 2021. There is no specific date yet, but at least a hint that it is still expected this year.
This is the first time that Blizzard has provided a release window for Diablo Immortal. Even at BlizzCon 2021, they remained completely tight-lipped regarding the release.
Only the Chinese developer NetEase claimed that the game was finished, but that was at the end of 2019. Blizzard denied this assertion at the time and reported that development was still very much ongoing.
You can watch the first 25 minutes of Diablo Immortal in this YouTube video:
Diablo Immortal faced a poor reception at the announcement, but it is changing
How has Immortal developed? Diablo Immortal was first announced in 2018 at BlizzCon and did not receive a favorable reaction. Fans were hoping for a Diablo 4 and were disappointed by the announcement of a mobile game. The mood soured and there was the famous outburst questioning whether the announcement was an April Fool’s joke.
However, the reputation of the mobile game has somewhat changed:
- In February 2020, Rod Fergusson, referred to as ‘Closer’, joined the Diablo team, which many viewed positively
- In early tests at the end of 2020, many reviews praised Diablo Immortal
- Some interesting MMO aspects were announced, including raids for up to 48 players and PvP
Blizzard has repeatedly emphasized that Diablo Immortal will also be released in the usual ‘Blizzard quality’. Moreover, Diablo Immortal and CoD: Mobile are said to be just the beginnings in mobile gaming for Activision Blizzard.
What about the other Diablo titles? Another positive aspect for Diablo fans is the other two games currently in development.
- The remaster Diablo 2: Resurrected is also set to be released in 2021. It is coming for PC and even consoles. However, there were no new details in the conference call regarding this.
- No new details were mentioned for Diablo 4. There is still no information regarding a release date.
What do you think of Diablo Immortal? Are you excited for the mobile game or are you ignoring it? Feel free to share your thoughts in the embedded poll and in the comments.
For us at MeinMMO, Immortal is one of the most interesting MMORPGs coming to market this year. You can find more exciting titles here: The 8 most promising new MMOs and MMORPGs for 2021.
