Blizzard Entertainment is reportedly deleting negative comments and dislikes about Diablo Immortal after the game's disastrous announcement at BlizzCon 2018. As well as an animated Netflix series based on Diablo, Blizzard teased that this was just the start of Diablo-related announcements. Unfortunately, a mobile spinoff is clearly not what players were asking for.
Taking place between the acclaimed Diablo 2 and 3, Diablo Immortal should've been an easy cash in on an already established franchise. Instead, the BlizzCon Twitch was soon inundated with cries of "Nooooo," and the game's cinematic trailer was weighed down by over 300 thousand dislikes. To say that fans reacted negatively to Diablo Immortal would be an understatement, but it sounds like the controversy is continuing.
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Posting on Reddit, Diablo fan borbach highlighted that Diablo Immortal's cinematic trailer mysteriously jumped from 311 thousand dislikes to 215 thousand dislikes, while the likes had only crawled up by 300. At the time of writing this article, the cinematic trailer has soared back up to 374 thousand dislikes, and comments seem to be back to normal. While there's no way to prove that Blizzard had been tampering with comments and dislikes, it looks like something was amiss when it came to Diablo Immortal's trailers.
One of the biggest gripes accuses Diablo Immortal of being nothing more than a reskin of NetEase's Crusaders of Light. Blizzard can't escape the scandal and the company's chief game designer has spoken to IGN to address Immortal. Wyatt Cheng told the site:
“I don’t think mobile should be a dirty word. When it came to looking at making a new Diablo game, and this opportunity to partner with NetEase to make this – the technology is there, where our mobile phones are more powerful than ever, and they’re capable of top tier gaming experiences.”
As for the reskin accusations, Cheng went on to say that Diablo Immortal has been built from the ground up:
“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.”
Despite Cheng's assurances, many are still pointing out the glaring similarities between Crusaders of Light and Diablo Immortal's user interface. One user on ResetEra goes on to claim that Diablo Immortal won't change a character's appearance when adding gear, and says the game isn't even being made by Blizzard. Either way, Blizzard could've hoped for a better response to Diablo Immortal's marketing campaign than the BlizzCon fiasco.
Gamers were already warned that the long-awaited announcement of Diablo 4 wouldn't be coming at Blizzcon, but it's unlikely that Blizzard expected such a frosty reception to Immortal's unveiling. Diablo Immortal isn't off to a great start, so expect Blizzard to put all its efforts into turning the headline-grabbing negativity into a positive. Whether Diablo Immortal can be salvaged before its iPhone and Android release remains to be seen.
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