The original plan for BlizzCon 2018, according to two people familiar with Blizzard’s plans, was for Blizzard to announce the mobile game
Diablo Immortal and then end on a video in which company co-founder Allen Adham told the audience that a proper
Diablo 4 was in development but not ready to show just yet. Instead, at last Friday’s keynote, Blizzard revealed
Diablo Immortal to a quiet, uncomfortable crowd and then ended the show. For most of the weekend,
Diablo fans
raged online as a result, expressing their anger on YouTube and various forums. There were a few reasons for the controversy, but the driving factor was that the company’s sole
Diablo announcement was a game that appeared to be made for a very different audience than hardcore
Diablo fans.
The reactions could have been very different. Blizzard changed its BlizzCon plans for
Diablo at some point in the last couple of weeks, those people familiar with goings-on at Blizzard said. One of those people told me that the
Diablo team wasn’t yet ready to commit to an announcement, as
Diablo 4 has changed drastically over the past four years and may continue to change further. (We’ve heard it’s gone through at least two different iterations under different directors.)
