For Diablo Immortal, the mobile game, alpha tests are scheduled for 2020. This was announced by Activision. When will the tests start and what does this mean for the release?
This is the situation: In the latest investor call, Activision talked about the future of Diablo Immortal among other topics. The alpha test is set to take place later in 2020.
Additionally, Activision further discussed the development status of the mobile game.
When will the alpha test take place? The first regional tests for Diablo Immortal will start in the middle of this year. So far, no exact date has been provided.
How is it going with Immortal? Although there is still no concrete release date for Diablo Immortal, Activision states that the title is making good progress. This is reported by Gamespot. After the playable demo at BlizzCon 2019, further internal playtests were conducted. The results are “encouraging.”
With the alpha tests this year, Activision aims to gather valuable feedback from players on the mobile title.
Activision is working closely with NetEase to create an “authentic” Diablo experience with Diablo Immortal. A few months ago, NetEase already stated that Immortal is nearly finished. However, Blizzard disagreed.
In the investor call, it was also mentioned that the roots of Diablo lie in PC gaming and that Blizzard remains deeply committed to the PC.
What can we speculate about the release now? We are still waiting for an official release date for Immortal. With the alpha tests, they want to expand the test audience – moving away from just the BlizzCon attendees to the broader public. It seems they have reached a point they want to present soon.
This is already an important step towards the release. Hopefully, a beta will start shortly after, where they will implement the collected feedback from the fans, followed by a release soon thereafter. Perhaps even within 2020?
In March, there will also be a special reinforcement for the Diablo team. They brought in Rod Fergusson as a “Closer” for the team. Someone who is supposed to successfully complete the final phase of development and lead a game to release. This also indicates that a release is likely not far off.
The first presentation at BlizzCon 2018 did not go well. Players hoped for a reveal of Diablo 4, believing that Diablo Immortal was an April Fool’s joke. But it is clear that this mobile game is one of the titles that are now very important for Blizzard. It is about stepping into the mobile world and paving the way for further mobile adaptations.
If Diablo does well, perhaps we will soon see the world of WoW on smartphones.
