Diablo heads to Netflix and Monster Hunter Now's $336.9m mobile milestone | Week in Views
The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can't let go of…
So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we've created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.
Paige Cook
Diablo animated series in development at Netflix
Blizzard has announced that it is working with Netflix on an animated series set in the world of Diablo. We don’t know much about it yet, but it does come as the franchise celebrates its 30th anniversary.
I’m not sure how everyone else feels about how often we see our beloved games making the jump to film and TV, but I for one love it. I like the idea of experiencing these worlds we grow to love in different ways, and seeing how they can work outside their original format.
For Diablo in particular, I’m glad they’ve gone with animation rather than live action. The world of Diablo has some pretty grand visuals, and I think animation will have better odds of doing that justice. I’m also intrigued to see what route they take for the story, since we usually just play as a custom protagonist.
There’s also a bit of interesting backstory here because back in 2020, Blizzard was reportedly working with Netflix on an animated series based on a host of its franchises, including the likes of Diablo, Overwatch and StarCraft, although this eventually fell through due to legal issues that actually saw Blizzard try to sue Netflix, claiming the service had poached its chief financial officer, Spencer Neumann.
Now, with the dust seemingly settled after all these years, I do wonder whether Diablo could be the start of something bigger, and if this series works, perhaps we could eventually see more of Blizzard’s games make their way to Netflix.
Aaron Astle
Monster Hunter Now makes $336.9m in three years on mobile
Celebrating anniversaries is a common occurrence for mobile games, leaning into live ops and giving players extra incentives to spend.
Still, there are some anniversaries that catch me by surprise - in a ‘where did the time go?’ kind of way. Monster Hunter Now is one such game.
Scopely Explore’s location-based title originally released in 2023, back when the developer was still known as Niantic. I remember covering this one extensively before, during and after release, back when the conversation was more about whether Niantic could release another hit, and whether any geolocation game with AR mechanics could be a success other than Pokémon Go.
I think Monster Hunter Now helped answer those questions. It may not be a multi-billion-dollar success like Go, but it roared its way into becoming Niantic’s second-biggest game in less than a month and is still here three years later, with more than $300 million in lifetime earnings to boot.
It’s also an engaging game with a faithful adaptation of the main series’ core gameplay loop: hunting monsters, collecting their materials, using those materials to make stronger gear, and hunting even fiercer foes. It certainly had me engaged, playing almost daily for the first year and beyond until I’d upgraded at least one weapon to Grade 10.
I saw the game go through major improvements such as more customisability around which monsters to hunt, more weapons to use and even a personalised Palico companion. And, though I admittedly haven’t kept up with it every day, when I do log in for a quick hunt there always seems to be a wave of new content and features to be found.
Between Pokemon Go, Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom and Dragon Quest Walk, there’s a clear link between successful walking games and Japanese IP. The genre’s popular in Japan, after all. And I’m glad that most the games release here too.
Now, I’ve got some anniversary content to get to.
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