Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
Blizzard announced a ton of things today at the BlizzCon 2018 Opening Ceremony, and fans were pretty jazzed until the final reveal of the event. A new Diablo game was announced, but not Diablo 4 and not for PC. This is definitely disappointing for a lot of Blizzard's core fanbase as most of them play games on their computers and may describe themselves as card-carrying members of that good old PC Master Race, but mobile games are here to stay and Blizzard has seen some serious success on iOS and Android with Hearthstone. The new Diablo Immortal mobile game may not have been what fans were expecting, but the response by fans during the question and answer session is rude and uncalled for. Here's one clip of a particularly stupid question asked to a Blizzard developer.
"Is this an out of season April Fool's joke?" asked the BlizzCon 2018 attendee. Apparently not releasing Diablo 4 or a PC Diablo game is a license to troll a Blizzard developer directly to his face. Diablo's Wyatt Cheng was already somewhat nervous during the announcement of Diablo Immortal, but this kind of behavior at a developer Q&A is really inappropriate, but wait there's more.
A large amount of boos rained down from the crowd when Wyatt confirmed that Diablo Immortal will be a mobile-only game releasing on App Store and Google Play. "Do you guys not have phones?" asked developers in response to the poor reaction from fans in attendance. It is unfortunate to see this poor of a response to the Diablo Immortal reveal, and even if you don't like mobile games, there is a better way to behave at a developer Q&A. There are probably some people in attendance who won't get to ask a better question because of the time taken up by these clearly annoyed fans.
It is fine to be disappointed by today's announcment of a mobile Diablo game, but Shacknews believes that mobile gamers count too. We acquired Modojo several years ago and will continue to report on mobile games and apps because people are interested in them. Mobile gaming is booming overseas in Asia and has seen pockets of success here in the U.S. Clearly, Blizzard sees an opportunity in this market. We can only hope that they will eventually release Diablo 4 and all of this whining can end, but until then, maybe think twice before posting something overwhelmingly negative about a game that some people have been working very hard to announce. You don't want to be like these guys at BlizzCon 2018.