The announcement of Diablo Immortal alone caused quite a stir at BlizzCon 2018. Fans were hoping to hear about a new mainline game for PC and consoles, but instead Blizzard revealed the first Diablo title for mobile. The negative feedback was so strong that Activision’s stock plummeted.

However, Blizzard did not stop development on Diablo Immortal, and the game debuted in June 2022. It turned out to be a high-quality mobile game, though not without the pay-to-win elements that often characterize mobile games. Within days of its release, Blizzard announced that Diablo Immortal was the biggest success in the franchise’s history, with over 10 million downloads in its first week and over $100 million in microtransactions by the end of July.

The big question was whether players would stick with the game until Diablo IV was released. At Gamescom 2023, franchise manager Rod Fergusson revealed in an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun that Blizzard’s fears were unfounded. After a strong debut for Diablo IV, Diablo Immortal continues to thrive.

Initially, we were afraid that Diablo Immortal would be cannibalized with the release of Diablo IV, and everyone would say, “We’ll just play Immortal until Diablo IV comes out. Instead, the opposite happened. After every Diablo IV beta, more and more people started playing Immortal, and that trend continued after Diablo IV came out. We realized that both games have their place; whether I’m playing at home on my couch, at my desk, or on my cell phone, they both fit well.

Diablo Immortal is different in more ways than just its mobile accessibility. The game is practically an MMOARPG with PvE raids and PvP tournaments, whereas Diablo IV shied away from this type of gameplay. This difference may partially explain why the two games can coexist.

Diablo Immortal was recently updated with a new class, the Blood Knight, which we’ve never seen before in the franchise. Meanwhile, Diablo IV is gearing up for its second season of blood since its release.

Source: WCCFTECH