Blizzard, the studio behind such classic video games as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo, is currently contending with a huge wave of fan backlash after announcing the new Diablo Immortal at this year’s BlizzCon festivities.
What has Diablo fans in such a tizzy? The death of a major character or a serious change in gameplay might prompt serious fan feedback. But, as it turns out, people are up in arms because Diablo Immortal is a mobile game. The action-filled hack-and-slash series, which has primarily been featured on PC (and later consoles) since its inception is getting a mobile version.
Now, some fans of Diablo are absolutely furious with Blizzard for revealing nothing about a potential Diablo 4, which fans have been clamoring for for years. To their credit, Blizzard did previously state in August that they had “multiple Diablo projects in the works,” but were quick to say that they wouldn’t be able to announce everything.
People being morose on the internet, especially when they didn’t get something they thought they deserved, is nothing new. However, the distaste found its way into the halls of BlizzCon itself during a Q&A live stream.
“Just was wondering, is this an out-of-season April Fools joke?” a man asked, followed by a few uncomfortable laughs and whistles from the audience.
My god, the savagery. The absolute savagery. #diabloimmortal #Diablo #diablo @LaymenGaming pic.twitter.com/Jvt4XzswzS
— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) November 2, 2018
The top two posts on the Diablo subreddit are titled “Diablo on mobile…RIP” and “Blizzard, Diablo on mobile is a slap in the face.”
Meanwhile on Twitter pic.twitter.com/D03qpzGYEs
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 3, 2018
In a report from Eurogamer, the man who briefly went viral asking Blizzard if Diablo Immortal was an April Fools joke has since made another statement on Reddit clarifying his feelings.
“I legit wasnt [sic] certain of my question until I stood at the mic,” dontinquire said. “I really wanted to say something poignant but pg. I had a lot of other asshole questions in mind. The one I picked sounded best in my head and I knew millions of people would hear it.”
Dontinquire continued in a separate comment, adding: “A troll wouldn’t have had the response I’ve gotten on social media. It’s obvious I am a true fan of blizzard and just really disappointed.”
In yet another Reddit post, Dontinquire responded to concern for Blizzard developer and Diablo principle designer Wyatt Cheng.
“I absolutely feel terrible for wyatt [sic],” Dontinquire said. “I think he does an excellent job. The issue is that in a large organization, every team member represents the business. I don’t want to humiliate any individual developers. I’m a hardcore blizzard fan for over 20 years. I was just so incredibly disappointed by the way diablo fans have been treated on all fronts. This game should be cancelled and blizzard should be ashamed of it.”
Some fans have claimed that Diablo Immortal is a reskin of a popular Chinese game called Crusaders of Light, which is developed by the same team, NetEase. In an interview with IGN, Blizzard responded by saying: “We’ve been working with NetEase Games from the beginning as a partnership to create everything in Diablo: Immortal. We have artists on our side, they have artists on their side, and we work together as a team, as a partnership to create everything about Diablo: Immortal. The environments, the characters, the skills, the story.”
Considering Blizzard has already confirmed that multiple Diablo projects are in production, it’s still pretty likely that Diablo 4, or maybe a remaster of the original Diablo, will come out in the future. When it comes to industry or fan events like BlizzCon, sometimes it’s just impossible to pull a trailer together in time for an immovable show date. Bethesda, the developer behind The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim tempered fan expectations with an incredibly brief trailer for The Elder Scrolls VI, which did nothing more than confirm that they were indeed working on it in some capacity.
Like any good internet controversy, there’s a heaping of folks mocking the absurdity of the situation, calling the behavior of Dontinquire and others immature and indicative of a larger entitlement problem in the industry.
https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1058734994502217728
https://twitter.com/9_volt_/status/1058725876764983296
I remember the Overwatch devs telling me about how AMAZING it felt to announce their game after years of hard work, and see the crowd go WILD.
— Muselk (@muselk) November 3, 2018
Makes me feel absolutely horrible for Wyatt and the rest of the Diablo team. Working so hard then getting panned by the community :(
https://twitter.com/Luceobrien/status/1058487830559698944
The reaction Diablo mobile got, it might be good, but it left a lot of fans very unhappy #PRNightmare pic.twitter.com/vnNQ1UaKtU
— The Jordalorian (｡▼皿▼) (@Indercin) November 3, 2018
Folks are talking the Diablo news pretty well. pic.twitter.com/PB7dBItrJE
— Palle! (@Palle_Hoffstein) November 3, 2018
Blizzcon’s 2018 Diablo Panel pic.twitter.com/LO3hdz1J95
— gaming memes (@VGHumour) November 3, 2018
This isn’t “savagery” it’s fucking obnoxious, embarrassing behavior. I get why people are mad, I really do, but you can be critical without being an asshole to people who spend their lives trying to entertain you. https://t.co/sWPNQnhsoG
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 2, 2018
H/T PC Gamer
