Blizzard Faces Hellish Backlash after BlizzCon Diablo Mobile Reveal

[Megalith]

Blizzard ended this year’s BlizzCon by announcing a Diablo game for mobile devices, and fans seem pretty upset about it. According to Eurogamer, there is a huge backlash on social media regarding “Diablo Immortal,” which was developed in partnership with Chinese video game company NetEase. One fan called it an "an out of season April Fools' joke" during the announcement’s Q&A session, while others can’t believe a mobile game was used to finish off the expensive convention.

r/diablo is currently packed with comments from angry Diablo fans who are hitting out at Blizzard over the existence of Diablo Immortal and the nature of its reveal. Some have accused the game of being a "reskin" of another NetEase mobile game called Crusaders of Light. On YouTube, Blizzard's official cinematic trailer for Diablo Immortal has been "disliked" 184,000 times at the time of publication (expect this number to rise).

 

[Bigshrimp]

They had to save the best for last!

 

[fullvietFX]

They're going to make millions off of it regardless.

 

[Bowman15]

They're going to make millions off of it regardless.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. A large part of mobile gaming is women. How many do you think enjoy playing Diablo like games on a phone? All they want is time wasting mindless candyland games. Regardless that wasn't the point why Diablo fans are upset

 

[babochee]

I know I'm pissed. Haven't been happy with Diablo since Diablo2.

 

[Etherton]

Diablo Immortal has been "disliked" 184,000 times

 

[Hostile]

People on the internet are such pieces of shit. Really. Grow the fuck up.

If any of these "hardcore Diablo fans" were upset that Diablo 4 wasn't announced then they're idiots. Blizzard has been hinting for weeks/months that Diablo4 was NOT going to be announced at BlizzCon this year, at least as far back as October 18th...

And never mind that it took 8 years for Blizzard to announce D3 after D2. So anyone expecting to hear about D4 so soon were kidding themselves.

And that guy who stood up at the Q&A and asked if it was an April Fool's joke is a rude, dickhead. He's not some internet hero, he's a douchebag.

 

[jmilcher]

Vote with your wallet not your YouTube dislike button.

Anyone can make a game if they so choose. Rather or not you play it is up to you.

 

[Bowman15]

People on the internet are such pieces of shit. Really. Grow the fuck up.

If any of these "hardcore Diablo fans" were upset that Diablo 4 wasn't announced then they're idiots. Blizzard has been hinting for weeks/months that Diablo4 was NOT going to be announced at BlizzCon this year, at least as far back as October 18th...

And never mind that it took 8 years for Blizzard to announce D3 after D2. So anyone expecting to hear about D4 so soon were kidding themselves.

LOL you're mad at people for getting mad. ironic.

They were expecting better diablo news, maybe not just D4. What they got was a watered down mobile game. How the hech do you not know your own fanbase and audience.

 

[azuza001]

Yeah, would rather have seen a new diablo game in the vein of 2, but all you can do is just not play, which won't stop 95% of diablo fans out there.

 

[xkilla101]

People on the internet are such pieces of shit. Really. Grow the fuck up.

If any of these "hardcore Diablo fans" were upset that Diablo 4 wasn't announced then they're idiots. Blizzard has been hinting for weeks/months that Diablo4 was NOT going to be announced at BlizzCon this year, at least as far back as October 18th...

And never mind that it took 8 years for Blizzard to announce D3 after D2. So anyone expecting to hear about D4 so soon were kidding themselves.

So soon? 8 years vs 6 years mah dude. It's not really that much of a difference, timewise there between announcing.

However, that's not the point of why the fans are pissed. Diablo Immortal is a re-skin of Endless of Gods, another NetEase game from years ago, re-using D3 assets, no loot, on a mobile device....

I mean, DON'T YOU GUYS OWN PHONES?!?!? (this was an actual Dev response during Blizzcon btw)

A PC-first game (Diablo) being turned into a mobile atrocity. Yeah, nothing wrong or disappointing about that at all! /s

 

[Jim Kim]

They're going to make billions off of it regardless.

ftfy

 

[steakman1971]

I like the first two Diablo games - they were brilliant. I did play through Diablo 3. I thought it was ok, but once I finished it, I uninstalled it and lost interest in it. To say I was let down with it was a total understatement.
I don't blame them for making a mobile game. Why not? It will probably make them a lot of money. Since I wasn't a big fan of D3, I really am not that interested in D4. I'll probably pick it up if it ever comes out, but my expectations are low.

 

[Evil Timmy]

This does look like an absolute reskin (from a dev Blizzard sourced work to before), and while dropping a game like this might have been fine via the usual press release and trailer method, this is Blizzcon. You promised your family a bacon brunch, they could smell and hear it sizzling in the pan, and when it hit the plate you're serving Beggin' Strips.

Edit: it's not just Children of Light, NetEase used the same ARPG template (which, tbh, there's only so much you can do with a tap interface) for their Kung Fu Panda 3 game:

 

[Verado]

People on the internet are such pieces of shit. Really. Grow the fuck up.

If any of these "hardcore Diablo fans" were upset that Diablo 4 wasn't announced then they're idiots. Blizzard has been hinting for weeks/months that Diablo4 was NOT going to be announced at BlizzCon this year, at least as far back as October 18th...

And never mind that it took 8 years for Blizzard to announce D3 after D2. So anyone expecting to hear about D4 so soon were kidding themselves.

And that guy who stood up at the Q&A and asked if it was an April Fool's joke is a rude, dickhead. He's not some internet hero, he's a douchebag.

Me and most of my friends were hoping for a D2 remaster, as that was easily the best game in in the series.

We're allowed to be disappointed by this turd of an announcement.

 

[vegeta535]

So they turned Diablo into some mobile MT trash. They going to be testing the ground for how much they can push MT in Diablo 4.

 

[RogueKitsune]

I think the community's knee jerk initial reaction is a little over the top, but I do understand why they are upset.

The blame for this mess still mostly rests on ActiBliz for the horrible management of expectations and not understanding what their core audience wants and NOT the fact that this mobile (cash grab) game is being made.

What actually happened was ActiBliz hyping "new amazing Diablo" and then just showing off a mobile game to a market that is really not into that stuff. All they had to do in order to fix this was to pull a Bethesda (think Fallout Shelter and TES Blades), announce and show off their mobile game and then just show like a 10 second teaser of D4 or some new D3 content.

 

[DejaWiz]

A video game company (partly) outsourcing their gaming development to China...wow, that's pathetic.

 

[Burticus]

I don't understand Blizzard. They could make tons of cash by releasing some new Diablo 3 DLC. But nooooooo.... let's make a HD remaster of Warcraft 3 (zero fucks given here) and a mobile cash grab Diablo game.

 

[Vildayyan2003]

A video game company (partly) outsourcing their gaming development to China...wow, that's pathetic.

Obviously, it is so they can sell it in China. $$$$

 

[Nytegard]

China is a huge market. Hollywood movies have started to cater towards them. And now games are. The problem is, tastes are different in the USA than China. So now people are finding out that modern games are evolving, and they're no longer the audience.

Being pushed out of the mainstream gaming market happens to us all sooner or later.

 

[cyriak]

A video game company (partly) outsourcing their gaming development to China...wow, that's pathetic.

most of companies are doing it - especially on low end money grabs and mobile projects (worked for subcontractor of subcontractor making those 10 yrs ago)

 

[velusip]

On the one hand, it's nice to see quality games for mobile. I mean, the ratio of bad to good games on any platform has always been high, but mobile is a trashfire compared to even a common ratio.

From a purely business perspective, it's best to focus on "the hook" and expand your market to keep that momentum going. Porting to a highly accessible and rising platform will increase the number of potentials.

On the other hand, the Blizzard fanboy audience is clearly annoyed to see their favourite developer spreading their resources into expanding the scope of their market instead of further developing a particular title they love to meet expectation. I've seen it many times in recent years (especially in the indie game field) where a potentially awesome game remains broken for years while the developers run a mad dash porting to all the platforms they can (e.g. Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, Ark etc). Obviously, it's way more profitable to do this than to actually improve a game, and that last 10% of game scope takes 90% of the time to implement -- which could be considered a waste since _that_ target market is already hooked.

I look forward to the day that Star Citizen follows this lead. XD

 

[beemanit]

I'm waiting for Blizzard to call the Diablo fans a bunch of racist, white male supremacists. After all, that is what Disney did with Star Wars.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Vote with your wallet not your YouTube dislike button.

Anyone can make a game if they so choose. Rather or not you play it is up to you.

Disagree, voting with your wallet only works if and only if a vast majority of possible purchasers (is it even a game you buy? Or a p2w microtransaction clown fiesta?) dont buy into it. If the game makes millions they dont care if you dont buy it, they made money, however a quarter million dislikes in a day says something, it sends a message, and even if it does make bank they might ask "how could we have made more?" And this sort of thing is a very obvious indicator.

 

[mbelue]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. A large part of mobile gaming is women. How many do you think enjoy playing Diablo like games on a phone? All they want is time wasting mindless candyland games. Regardless that wasn't the point why Diablo fans are upset

That's mighty sexist.

 

[Krenum]

I'm mad, we are all mad. This is a disgrace!

The only silver lining was the look on that developers face when the crowd laughed at them. I hope it fails and the company developing it goes out of business.


Booooooo! Booo all the way back to China!

 

[Private_Ops]

Being pushed out of the mainstream gaming market happens to us all sooner or later.

Never was in it. Last game I bought that was "new" was Fallout 4... or was it Dishonored 2?

Guess I'm just picky. Honestly most newer games just turn me off cause either the fan base is toxic (CoD, although, you could argue its just reiterated trash), I refuse to give them my money on moral reasons (EA), or I'm just simply not interested. (DRM gets thrown in there to)

 

[Azphira]

*looks at launch trailer* Awww, poor Blizzard, silencing Youtube accounts is harder than player accounts.

 

[RogueKitsune]

The only silver lining was the look on that developers face when the crowd laughed at them. I hope it fails and the company developing it goes out of business.

I actually feel sorry for the guys that were up on stage. In all likelihood they had no part in any of the decision making process to develop or on how to present the game at the con. They were just up there doing their job to the best of their ability. All the criticism should be directed at ActiBliz not at individuals running the slideshow they didn't make.

Also as this game is really targeted to the Asian markets and appears to be a re-skin of a pay to win mobile game, ActiBliz is going to make all the money off of it for almost no money in.

 

[vegeta535]

On the one hand, it's nice to see quality games for mobile. I mean, the ratio of bad to good games on any platform has always been high, but mobile is a trashfire compared to even a common ratio.

From a purely business perspective, it's best to focus on "the hook" and expand your market to keep that momentum going. Porting to a highly accessible and rising platform will increase the number of potentials.

On the other hand, the Blizzard fanboy audience is clearly annoyed to see their favourite developer spreading their resources into expanding the scope of their market instead of further developing a particular title they love to meet expectation. I've seen it many times in recent years (especially in the indie game field) where a potentially awesome game remains broken for years while the developers run a mad dash porting to all the platforms they can (e.g. Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, Ark etc). Obviously, it's way more profitable to do this than to actually improve a game, and that last 10% of game scope takes 90% of the time to implement -- which could be considered a waste since _that_ target market is already hooked.

I look forward to the day that Star Citizen follows this lead. XD

This isn't a high quality game for mobile. It is a reskin of another game that has a p2w model. Which is a great deal of the mobile games out there are. It is going to b nothing but a cheap money grab. I hope it blows up in their face. Honestly it is time for another video game crash. This shit has gone too far and will only keep getting worse. The reset button needs to be pressed on the entire industry.

 

[DooLocsta]

 

[gxp500]

Edit: it's not just Children of Light, NetEase used the same ARPG template (which, tbh, there's only so much you can do with a tap interface) for their Kung Fu Panda 3 game:

OMG diablo immortal is a reskin of kung fu panda now? Can you play as Po?

 

[KamelRed]

What a goddamn shit show.

 

[exlink]

Blizzard doesn't care, they know that nearly everyone complaining will end up downloading it on their mobile phone anyway.

 

[STEvil]

I was just thinking the other day i'd like to play diablo on my phone.

Diablo 1 that is.

Maybe Diablo 2 as well.

But certainly not whatever trash this is.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

They were expecting better diablo news, maybe not just D4. What they got was a watered down mobile game. How the hech do you not know your own fanbase and audience.

dunno...maybe ask bethesda that?

 

[kirbyrj]

As a player of the original Diablo back in 1997, I went to the youtube site just to downvote. Too bad I can't use my ol' hacked Archangel Staff of the Apocalypse on whoever thought this was a good idea.

 

[theBrownLlama]

People on the internet are such pieces of shit. Really. Grow the fuck up.

If any of these "hardcore Diablo fans" were upset that Diablo 4 wasn't announced then they're idiots. Blizzard has been hinting for weeks/months that Diablo4 was NOT going to be announced at BlizzCon this year, at least as far back as October 18th...

And never mind that it took 8 years for Blizzard to announce D3 after D2. So anyone expecting to hear about D4 so soon were kidding themselves.

And that guy who stood up at the Q&A and asked if it was an April Fool's joke is a rude, dickhead. He's not some internet hero, he's a douchebag.

i like him. Every b.s press conference by big game publishers should be ruined like this. He's a consumer whom stood up for all to see, to the now extremely greedy game publishers.

Rude to gaming companies? Ha. Gaming companies have been rubbing shit on our faces for a decade, and laughing all the way to the bank. About time they got some public backlash, rather than having it being resigned to gaming forums .

Next thing would be for chicken-shit mainstream gaming press who would only report on the backlash but not actually participate in it, having jello backbones and all, to face the backlash too.

i have no love lost for Blizzard

 

[Ranulfo]

I'm waiting for Blizzard to call the Diablo fans a bunch of racist, white male supremacists. After all, that is what Disney did with Star Wars.

Oh, the defenders are already out in force. One within hours was calling them sexists/misogynists.

https://i.imgur.com/cUEC7Z8.png

Everyone needs to chill out about diablo immortal:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/11/03/everyone-needs-to-chill-out-about-diablo-immortal/

Twitter collage:

https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg