In November 2018, an image was created that haunted Blizzard for 4 years, until today. Developer Wyatt Cheng was asked at BlizzCon whether this new Diablo Immortal could also be played on PC. He replied by asking if the guys in the audience had no smartphones: This scene hurt Blizzard badly for years. Now Blizzard is reversing the decision, Diablo Immortal is indeed coming to PC. MeinMMO author Schuhmann takes a look at this.
This was the situation: To understand why the situation was so difficult, one must understand Diablo and BlizzCon:
Diablo is a pillar of Blizzard. It is one of the “original” PC games. It invented and defined a genre, the “Hack’n’Loot” genre – you kill mobs, collect items to kill tougher mobs and collect better items.
The ideas that the Blizzard visionaries came up with in the 90s formed the basis for RPGs and MMORPGs for the next 25 years, yes, even the sacred World of Warcraft.
The first Diablo was released in 1997, Diablo 2 in 2000 – this established Blizzard’s fame as a “multiplayer” forge, Diablo 3 came in 2012, but with this third part, Blizzard overplayed its hand, focusing on a real-money auction house, going overboard, and then had to prematurely discontinue its development. A real-money auction house? PC players of Diablo, traditionally purists, would not stand for that.
BlizzCon, on the other hand, is a high mass for these original PC players. Although Blizzard had brought its games to consoles over the years, even to the Switch, BlizzCon attracted the “loyalist of the loyal fans” – and those had always been PC players at Blizzard.
In 2018 at BlizzCon, the fans of Diablo were starving, the last major expansion for Diablo 3 was already 5 years ago, there had been dubious announcements about Diablo 4, which were picked up, exaggerated, and disseminated by fans. Before the BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard even tried to dispel the rumor that they would show Diablo 4. They claimed they were not ready yet. The fans needed to be patient. But nobody wanted to hear that.
So the hardcore fans of Blizzard sat in the hall in 2018, waiting for the big bombshell at the end of the convention, for a Diablo 4 for PC, but Blizzard showed them Diablo Immortal, a pure mobile game – a sacrilege.
Extremely bad atmosphere during the presentation of Diablo Immortal
Was this the embarrassment? When Diablo Immortal was presented, the atmosphere in the hall was tense. In a Q&A session, the Blizzard bigwigs took questions from the audience:
- “What about Druids? You already removed them in Diablo 3, now you’re leaving them out in Diablo Immortal – what’s going on?”
- “How long has Diablo Immortal been in development, and how does it impact other Diablo projects?”
In the audience, people were tasting blood. It was already clear: Fans actually wanted to talk about the next Diablo for PC. The presenters on stage seemed to be becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
Then came the death blow. A young man who introduced himself as “Lord Fluffy” said the mechanics looked quite interesting. That’s why they had been begging for years for Diablo 3. He asked if there were plans to make Diablo Immortal playable on PC or if it was “strictly mobile – forever.”
Wyatt Cheng, who just wanted to present his mobile game, visibly stumbled and said: “So the current plan is to bring it to mobile platforms, for both, for Android and iOS. We currently have no plans to bring it to PC.”
When Cheng was booed, he asked the audience, “Do you guys not have phones?” – “Guys, don’t you have phones?”
The segment begins at 27:40 minutes:
Moment became a symbol of Blizzard’s decline
What made the moment so harsh? This moment became a meme that was held against Blizzard for 4 years as evidence that they had lost touch with their “true” fans. They had become deaf to their actual audience and developed games that their fans did not want.
Blizzard was said to be “only developing for stock prices.”
When in the years following 2018 major new announcements were absent and the problems in the studio became increasingly clear, the mood towards Blizzard soured.
Many expressed their displeasure over the once-favorites with Diablo Immortal and “Do you guys not have phones?”.
There has been no doubt for years that Diablo Immortal is important for Blizzard and that they are putting many resources into the game:
Why Diablo Immortal is so important for the future of Activision Blizzard
In poor Wyatt Cheng, no villain was seen against whom the wrath was directed. Instead, he was ultimately just a symbol of a generally negative behavior that Blizzard displayed.
This is how Blizzard captures this scene now: In a blog post from April 25, Blizzard has now announced that Diablo Immortal will come to PC. On June 2, 2022, it will start. A Free2Play Beta will also launch for PC.
Blizzard states that it was a “feedback they kept receiving.”
From the FAQ, it is clear that Blizzard is now doing exactly what they denied 4 years ago: Diablo Immortal will be playable on PC. It is not a “proper own” version of Diablo Immortal, but they will cater to PC players nonetheless.
Why will they do this? The team has published another blog post to explain the reasons.
They say they kept deciding for and against a PC port while developing Diablo Immortal.
Ultimately, the decisive factor was that they knew: Many of the “loyal Diablo fans” would play Immortal on PC, even if through an emulator. And so they could do it right themselves.
Blizzard asks for understanding: It is an experiment. They did not actually plan this, and the result will feel “somewhat different”, but they are already looking forward to it.
The famous meme is not mentioned at all.
What’s behind this? The thing with the emulator is certainly true. People would have definitely played Diablo Immortal via emulators. But there are surely other influences at play:
- The release of Diablo 4 is “further away” than expected in 2018 – so something is needed to feed the core audience of Diablo on PC
- Lost Ark, a pure PC game, was a huge hit on Steam and opens a new target audience
- The “meme” bothers, and Blizzard is currently on a “we’re making it right again” tour, where they are breaking some sacred rules
Decision increases interest in Diablo Immortal
Does this help now? The decision doesn’t really create much enthusiasm, though. Too much bad has happened at Blizzard in recent months. A tweet from GameStar author Maurice Weber sums it up.
Nevertheless, some players announced in the comments on MeinMMO that they are now interested in Diablo Immortal: Previously, they had completely ignored the mobile game:
- For example, Hakuna Matatato writes: Wow, I have completely ignored this game so far, as I do not play on my smartphone (the only exception being PoGo, which I played longer).
- Misterpanda says: I would have played it anyway, but is there anything better than a bridge until Diablo 4 than another Diablo on PC that even has crossplay / crosssave? It’s like Christmas.
- Leyaa writes: Wow, they really announced a PC version. I really did not expect that. This makes Diablo Immortal rather relevant for me now.
But there are also skeptics:
- For example, Muchtie writes: Well, somehow I have a bad feeling about the PC version. I will probably take a look, but with Lost Ark around, you are well catered to.
There has been no doubt for years that Diablo Immortal is important for Blizzard and that they are putting many resources into the game:
Why Diablo Immortal is so important for the future of Activision Blizzard
