2020 is less than four months from ending, and it looks like Blizzard is taking the slow and steady route with its next mobile game Diablo Immortal.
Activision Blizzard is quite positive about the success of Diablo Immortal, as observed during its last earnings call. But will the Diablo mobile version follow the triumph of Call of Duty: Mobile?
Diablo Immortal was first introduced in North America in 2018 during the E3. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as warmly received as the devs would’ve hoped. Two years later, the gaming community wondered if the game’s release would even push through.
Hopes were high when a Blizzard poster for ChinaJoy 2020 hinted at the appearance of Diablo Immortal. Come convention proper; a new game trailer was indeed showcased.
It has been a month since the China showcase. This leads the Diablo fans to wonder: How is Diablo Immortal coming along so far?
We might be looking at a prolonged development
The year 2020 is both a blessing and a curse for the gaming industry. Sales and downloads are at its peak because of the quarantine. However, maintaining a tight-scheduled team has been difficult for all dev firms right now.
The work-from-home setup because of the coronavirus pandemic did not skip anyone. According to their August 4 dev update—the first in quite a while—they’ve “transitioned to working from home.”
Although they claim that they’ve been “making good progress,” fans can assume that they’ve had their fair share of difficulties as well. Nonetheless, it appears that the game is already in its “internal company playtest” stage.
After that, adjustments will still follow based on players’ feedback.
Initially, during the E3 2018, the game’s graphic was wildly criticized. But the recent ChinaJoy game trailer was a decent redemption.
Depending on the severity of feedback, it looks it will still be a while. Taking Riot Games’ League of Legends: Wild Rift as a comparison, which is still in its alpha launch in selected countries.
Recent news about the mobile LoL is its testing sign up roll out for iOS players. So LoL players might also be waiting for a bit while as well. Although, not as long as Diablo fans.
Recent updates on Diablo Immortal
For one, Android users can now pre-register on the Google Play Store. As promised by the devs, it looks like they are truly “marching toward key development milestones.”
Based on its Google Play listing, the game was last updated on August 26.
Also, it is still uncertain if the Diablo mobile game was affected by Activision and Tencent cutting ties recently. Tencent‘s subsidiary, Timi Studios, was one of the devs working on CoDM for its mobile port.
But it looks like CoDM is not as affected as many may have expected. So, by the time Diablo Immortal releases, Blizzard would already have a good grasp of the mobile gaming platform.
Images [1] & [2] courtesy of Diablo Immortal