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Blizzard learned a "huge number of lessons" from Diablo Immortal reveal

Developer says it's still focused on PC titles despite partnerhing with NetEase on the new mobile game

Blizzard learned a "huge number of lessons" from Diablo Immortal reveal

Blizzard learned “a huge number of lessons” from the negative reaction to the unveiling of upcoming mobile game Diablo Immortal, says the company's president.

The title developed by Chinese publisher NetEase was announced at Blizzcon last year. Fans had hoped for a Diablo 4 reveal at the paid-for event - despite Blizzard stating there wouldn't be one - but were instead treated to the mobile game reveal.

Speaking to IGN, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack discussed the concerns raised by fans and lamented upon how the Blizzard failed to articulate that PC games will always be a core part of the company.

“Our roots are PC”

"We started our journey in ye-olden times as a console company, and then we migrated to PC,” said Brack.

"And in the last few years, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to console, we’ve moved Overwatch to console, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to Switch. And those have been good things, that I think a lot of people have resonated with. But fundamentally our roots are PC, a strong PC game company, and that’s not going to change.

"It doesn’t make sense to me, or really anyone at Blizzard, that we would just say ‘Oh! Let’s stop working on these PC games, there’s no future in them.’ That’s not our view at all."

There have been concerns in some quarters in recent times that Activision is extending its influence over Blizzard and the direction of the developer. Activision increasingly has its eye on China and mobile and potentially highly lucrative revenue streams.

Our contributing editor Jon Jordan previously analysed Activision Blizzard's business strategy and discussed why the firm is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to mobile and its future.


Deputy Editor

Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.