Diablo Immortal Strives To Be A "True" Diablo Experience, Even As It Breaks New Ground

gamespot.com:

When Diablo Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018 as a free-to-play, mobile-only entry in Blizzard's storied ARPG franchise, it was met with a tepid response from fans. One player in attendance went so far to ask if the game was an out of season April Fool's joke on Blizzard's part.

Flash forward to now, after Blizzard recently announced Diablo Immortal would also be coming to PC (in what is being labeled a beta) with full cross-play and cross-progression with mobile, and the fan reaction has changed. Many players are now cautiously optimistic about the franchise's foray into mobile and free-to-play.

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Now Playing: Diablo Immortal — Everything to Know

That's good news, because while Diablo Immortal might not look it at first glance, it's shaping up to be a major game-changer for the franchise going forward, sporting MMO-like social features, an emphasis on PvP, and a live-service, «living game» strategy never before seen in the history of Diablo.

For the Diablo franchise's most dedicated fans, it was the news the game would also come to PC that helped reset the stage following the disaster that was Diablo Immortal's official announcement. Back then, it was immediately clear Diablo fans wanted the option to play Diablo Immortal on PC, but it took Blizzard time--over three years--to make that wish a reality.

According to senior game designer Scott Burgess, who recently spoke with GameSpot, Blizzard knew following the game's announcement that fans wanted to be able to play Diablo Immortal on PC. Combined with the realization that dedicated PC players would simply use mobile emulators to access the game on PC regardless, Blizzard began the process of creating the PC