The weekend of Blizzcon 2018 was atypical and will certainly not be used in Blizzard. His announcement of Diablo Immortal the mobile phone video game of his historical franchise, received a negative reception unprecedented in the history of the company.

Videos with the disc of do not like it. on YouTube boos in the presentation of the game in the Blizzcon and thousands of disappointed user messages on the Internet clearly show the opposition of the community to this new project, but all n & # 39 is not white or black. We discussed why the announcement caused such a reaction, how Blizzard could have dodged the problem and, let's not forget, Diablo Immortal can become a good game video.

Killing Expectations

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Blizzard was widely and harshly criticized for his treatment of the franchise Diablo in recent years. After launching Diablo III in 2012 and Reaper of Souls the expansion that solved most of the problems of the original, in 2015 the company has little or poorly supported his ARPG franchise. Therefore, it did not take long to launch the bells on the fly after Blizzard confirmed that "Diablo would have a significant presence in the Blizzcon 2018."

So much that before the hype excessive and that most voices will (logically) announce Diablo 4 the company issued a strange statement in which it urged the community not to not to be too illusions:

Stay a while and listen – We have exciting updates to share on the future of Diablo. pic.twitter.com/J7S3HHcWQC

– Diablo (@Diablo) August 8, 2018

Leaving aside that it is more than likely that a lot of people n & # 39; Much of this information, part of the community parked the illusion of a new delivery and started thinking of something that, once again, was quite consistent: a remastering or a remake of Diablo II the most beloved delivery of the franchise. And, of course, Diablo Immortal ended up disappointing one and the other.

But it's never surprising that a company with industry experience as related to its community as Blizzard can anticipate such a reaction. and, in fact, reserve the news of Diablo at the end of the inaugural conference, where historically the big surprises and the most important names of each Blizzcon were announced. What's new, more ( Warcraft III: Reforged or Hearthstone ) or less ( of StarCraft II or Hero of the Storm ) important, has arrived and … has only increased the level of anticipation. At the communication level, Blizzard was managing the situation terribly .

An Easy Problem to Avoid

The controversy, as they say, was in the form. Similarly, it would have been very easy to avoid the problem or, at least, to mitigate the consequences. And it 's actually something that Blizzard had herself in her plans, as we learned a few hours ago

. A mere announcement, in the form of a brief teaser of Diablo 4 would have sufficed to announce the opening ceremony of the ceremony and therefore, Diablo Immortal would be relegated to the background, working as a complementary project that would not replace it

Without going further, announcing the move to iOS and Android from one of the most recognized sagas of PC and of consoles est a perfect example of know-how and communication in this respect : in the complete presentation of Fallout 4 the main production of the saga for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, Todd Howard made a small stop on the way to announce Fallout Shelter game of the franchise for mobile devices.

There were many things l Thus, Bethesda did well that night: make it clear that Fallout Shelter was a "minor" project and did not substitute or fight at the level of the public or resources, with Fallout 4 . ; explain clearly what it was about and how it was played by citing references and presenting the main features of the game and, most importantly, publish it at that time . And to make matters worse, Diablo Immortal does not even have a release date and, according to the first glimpses, the evolution seems to have been left long ahead.

Diablo Immortal is not bad news

The Announcement itself was a problem for Blizzard and is considered negative by the community, but, furthermore, Diablo Immortal is a project that promotes openness . It all depends on how the company manages it and, above all, that the brand continues to maintain the values ​​that characterize it to this day. Without a doubt, Fallout Shelter or Pokémon GO must be the mirror to look at.

The first is read by more than 100 million people, the second exceeding the spectacular figure of 650 million, thus multiplying the number of users of its main versions. In the same way, it is possible that Diablo Immortal attracts millions of players outside the franchise who, in the near future, enlarge the ranks of their future major deliveries, whether Diablo 4 be it the remake of Diablo II . In addition, the agreement with NetEase society behind the video game and creators of Crusaders of Light (video game with which it shares many similarities, perhaps even too many ), will attract the attention of the Chinese public.

In the same way, just as Blizzard used other media such as animated shorts, comics or books to tell new stories of the Diablo universe, tell it the events that occurred between Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and Diablo III in a new video game do not seem to be a bad idea. Everything will ultimately depend on the quality of the project and how the company will interpret and take advantage of video game trends for mobile devices. Without a doubt, the ball of abusive micropayments is on the roof of Blizzard. Now, it is comforting to note that the situation can only improve .

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