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At Blizzcon, Diablo fans were hoping for something new – maybe DLC or maybe even the announcement of a new Diablo game. They received a new ad from the Diablo game, but not the one that many wanted.
Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal, a freemium hack-and-slash RPG co-developed by Netease, a veteran of the mobile gaming space. Blizzcon participants made it very clear that it was not about the game they were hoping for and that, in this way, we have a hot topic to tackle! Let's dig in it.
A little background
The latest game Diablo, Diablo III, was launched six years ago in 2012 on PC and Mac, in 2013 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and in 2014 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It has aroused strong criticism from experts, and fans of the series have happy with it after overcoming some early problems. However, it's been six years since major releases, though Diablo III has received a lot of updates, downloadable content and bug fixes in the meantime. A few months ago, the company began to suggest several projects Diablo. That's where the riddles started. People were openly hoping Several projects did not just mean a Nintendo Switch port and a mobile game. The Switch port has turned out to be real and people have enjoyed it. Blizzard also announced other articles in its official pre-Blizzcon blog in mid-October.
The hype culminated with an announcement at Blizzcon 2018, where Blizzard announced to everyone that its big novelty was a mobile game Diablo that takes place between the second and third titles of the series. The reaction was so intense that the Activision stock fell, people talked about it on Twitter, and the player blogs went on the Internet to discuss it, many said the reaction was unjustified. Anyway, people were furious with Blizzcon and made sure Blizzard knew it.
Current photo of Diablo fans right now
In defense of the fanbase
Let's see this from the fan base's point of view first. The fan base of Diablo includes, among others, many hardcore RPG players. Diablo I, II and III were all massive RPGs with deep intrigues, tons of traditions, Easter eggs and, basically, a whole culture of fans. Each new game introduces more refined, more traditional and fun content without compromising the basic experiences that made the series of games fun. All this changed with the announcement of a Freemium mobile game. Cue hate!
Blizzard should know the recipe to announce a mobile game without feedback. They have already done it.
From the fans' point of view, this reaction was somehow justified. Blizzard broke the golden rule of announcing a freemium version of his hit series. It's mostly a matter of timing.
Bethesda Softworks announced its Fallout Shelter shelter, a Fallout mobile game, at the E3 2015 at the same event as Fallout 4. The fans of the series knew that they would receive a brand new Fallout game after all these years of waiting. Fallout Shelter acted as a kind of hype generator, rather trying to be the main event. Bethesda has been smart enough to announce Fallout 4 alongside Fallout Shelter so hardcore and casual fans know they're both getting something.
Blizzard could and should have followed the same path as Bethesda. After all, Diablo 4 is in preparation. For the most part, he could have avoided that by announcing Diablo 4 alongside Diablo Immortals. You do not tease a loyal fan base six years after your last major title, then you play a freemium game. You should not multiply projects and announce only the one that the most hardcore part of the fanbase hate. No further analysis is needed. It's not something you do.
Companies have already tried to advertise a great mobile gaming ad and have failed superbly. Super Mario Run continues to have poor ratings on Google Play and iTunes so far due to the overwhelming number of one- and two-star critics emanating from an angry fan. At one point, only 5% of users had purchased the game after downloading it. Many other developers have avoided violent reactions by cleverly announcing a mobile game, alongside an interesting announcement as part of a set, rather than a standalone ad. Even Blizzard avoided the backlash with Hearthstone by launching it on PC first. It's not rocket science.
Teasing several projects and offering a freemium game is a stupid idea in 2018.
Other potential factors could however give even more cannon fodder to fans. Netease co-develops Diablo Immortals. This studio only offers freemium games, including three clones of PUBG Mobile and a clone of Diablo, which claim a style very similar to Immortal. It does not really inspire confidence. In addition, the nature of freemium games should be taken into account. They usually have a simpler mechanics, less knowledge and more attention to casual players.
Diablo is one of the most hardcore RPGs on the market. The last thing you want during a good exploration of a dungeon is to run out of energy or, even worse, to work for months to get the type of character growth that you can usually get in a week or two. Teasing Diablo fans with several projects and pumping a freemium game without even a hint of Diablo 4, is like promising ice cream to his kids and then taking them to the dentist.
Blizzard made a lot of mistakes by announcing a freemium game without announcing Diablo 4, associating with a potentially questionable mobile developer and teasing more than what they had delivered. The fanbase should be crazy. Mario fans were crazy when Super Mario was not a classic Mario game. Many freemium games have received the same treatment from his fans without anyone criticizing them. Why can not Diablo fans be crazy about getting the same treatment for their favorite franchise?
In defense of Blizzard
We have already established Blizzard a few times with its release of Diablo Immortals. Most critics are true. In fact, Blizzard approached Diablo's first mobile freemium game like other developers in 2015, rather than learning from their mistakes. That does not mean we should all hate Blizzard forever – society has missteps, not disasters.
The proven existence of Diablo 4 makes it difficult to stay angry with Blizzard. The game desired by Diablo fans is actually coming.
Let's start with the obvious: Diablo 4 is on the way. The fans of the series discover a brand new Diablo experience of new generation for PC, console and maybe even Nintendo Switch. It takes a lot of wind on the sails of the reaction against Diablo Immortal. It is true that they should have announced Diablo 4 to Blizzcon because it was the best time to do it. However, we all know that a complete game is coming and that the fan base will get exactly what it wants, at least in the end. This is usually the time when people start to relax.
In addition, Diablo fans must remember that mobile gaming is a big problem now. Square Enix saw its profits increase after its move to mobile gaming. Pokemon Go has reported to Niantic Labs and Game Freak nearly $ 2 billion in two years. Fire Emblem Heroes helped Nintendo reach new heights. Fallout Shelter has added $ 90 million to the Bethesda coffers. Mobile games generated about double the revenue for PC and Mac games in 2017. Nearly 80% of the combined revenue from Google Play and the Apple App Store came from mobile gaming. You see where it's going, right?
People who think that mobile gaming is still not a big problem are stuck in 2015. Things are different now.
Mobile gaming is the current asset of developers. The market is huge and it is growing every year. Game developers must publish at least some mobile titles to remain fully relevant. Hell, Blizzard's Hearthstone reigns supreme in the market for digital card games and Activision-Blizzard also owns King, the maker of Candy Crush games. The company knows very well how a good mobile strategy is essential to remain profitable.
Diablo Immortal is one of Blizzard's most successful properties in the mobile industry. This is not the ad that people wanted and a Diablo freemium game will probably not perform as well as its counterparts for PC and console, but is it really surprising that this is where Blizzard went with the franchise?
Many large companies have used mobile developers to create games. Square Enix has signed a deal with Gumi for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and DeNA for Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Both games are very successful and – understand well – a lot of people really like them. Fallout Shelter was not developed solely by Bethesda and people loved it too. There are tons of other examples.
Netease is not our favorite developer. However, if Blizzard directs the effort, it can help limit Netease's generally aggressive freemium strategies. It's far from safe, but at least Netease did not have complete control of the project. It could have been a disaster.
Let's see
The media coverage of Diablo Immortal's backlash is probably a little exaggerated as well. Tons of things arouse much more resistance than Diablo Immortal without these people being accused of going too far. The line that defines the number of excessive complaints seems to change arbitrarily from one subject to another, inside and outside the game. This will probably fall in a week or two. After that, everything will be back to normal like never before and we'll be joking when Diablo 5 and Diablo Immortal 2 are announced in six years.
There is evidence that Diablo Immortal could be another commonplace freemium game without much for the hardcore fan of Diablo. However, there is also room for optimism. Many huge game franchises have made a positive step forward on the mobile gaming scene without sacrificing much of the basic experience.
Diablo Immortal could adapt to this model and bring good Diablo experiences to the mobile. It will probably never match a traditional Diablo game, but I do not think anyone (even Blizzard) expects that. It's really hard to judge a game that nobody has access to yet.
We would like to know your opinion in the comments!
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