Blizzard has revealed a brand new Diablo Immortal mobile game, marking the first time the franchise has been adapted for the platform.

The title is a co-production between Blizzard and its Chinese publishing partner NetEase, and was unveiled on-stage at its annual Blizzcon.

Despite work continuing on Diablo 4, the news of a mobile release has sparked backlash amongst a number of internet trolls and some who call themselves 'fans'.

As reported by Kotaku, one fan during a Q&A asked the developers whether this was an "out-of-season April Fool's joke", while many gamers are expressing their fury on social media.

This is likely due to the expectation that a brand new fully-fledged PC or console Diablo was on the way thanks to a pre-Blizzcon blog post announcing that multiple projects are in the works for the franchise.

That word, passion

“We know our audience here is passionately PC- and console-focused,” Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham told Kotaku.

“We’ve also seen this before. We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of Hearthstone.”

He added: “They love what they love and want what they want.

“That passion, it’s actually what drives us, and we feel it too. It’s why we make games and why we’ve made games for almost three decades now - and why our community is so passionate about our franchises.

"I understand their feeling and wish we could share more about all the amazing things we’re doing, not just with the Diablo franchise but across the company as a whole.”

This story was originally published on our sister-site PCGamesInsider.biz.