Diablo Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018 as a new mobile game in the Diablo universe. The developers at NetEase have now revealed new details to Chinese media.
After many negative reactions from fans to the announcement of Diablo Immortal and Blizzard’s response, there are now new details about the game that everyone is upset about. For Diablo Immortal, Blizzard is collaborating with the Chinese company NetEase, which will take on much of the development. NetEase has already discussed the engine of Diablo Immortal and other details with Chinese media.
Here are the plans for Diablo Immortal so far
Own engine for development: NetEase has confirmed that the game engine “Messiah” will be used for the development of Diablo Immortal. NetEase developed Messiah in 2010 and has already used it for game projects in 2013.
Messiah is designed to best create 3D games for mobile. Through a partnership with Qualcomm, Messiah is optimized for Qualcomm’s mobile chips. These chips are found in gaming smartphones like the new ASUS ROG Phone .
Messiah supports various technologies for mobile gaming. These aim to minimize the amount of detail lost while playing.
A “brighter” Diablo: According to NetEase, Diablo Immortal will not be as “dark” as “the PC game” – presumably a reference to Diablo 3. However, it is not entirely clear what NetEase means by that:
- The story could be less “bleak” as skeletons are not depicted in China
- or the game could visually become “brighter” as dark colors are not well recognized and distinguished on mobile
Diablo Immortal is said by Blizzard not to be released on PC. Instead, Android and iOS players share the servers. However, NetEase itself has no problem with fans playing Diablo Immortal on PC via emulators.
More quality at unknown price: Currently, NetEase is working to increase the quality of Diablo Immortal. Therefore, the focus is not currently on potential features such as:
- Guilds
- PvP
- Transmogrification
- Auction houses, etc.
After the accusation that Diablo Immortal is just a copy, fans have already feared a massive “pay-to-win” game. However, there is still no concrete information about a payment model. According to NetEase, the business model is “not set in stone.”
What do you expect from Diablo Immortal? Will you give the game a chance or not? Let us know in the comments!
At least the fans at BlizzCon seemed to be a bit more conciliatory after the Q&A about Diablo Immortal.
