Diablo Immortal was originally going to be a mobile-only release, but developer Blizzard has now announced it will launch on PC as well.
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Diablo Immortal, a new mobile-based game based on the classic dungeon-crawler from Blizzard, will also be available to play on PC due to the company realizing that PC players would emulate the game anyway. Originally announced at BlizzCon 2018, Diablo Immortal received tremendous backlash from Diablo fans, many of whom were expecting the announcement of Diablo 4 instead of a mobile version of the game. Despite a rocky initial reception, Diablo Immortal is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the Diablo mantle, and PC players will soon get the opportunity to loot alongside players on mobile devices.
Despite the game being consistently delayed since 2018, and an intense reaction from Diablo fans at that time, Diablo Immortal‘s closed alpha revealed a surprisingly polished Diablo mobile game in 2021. The game will include fast load times, character classes from past Diablo games, and an instantly recognizable Diablo gameplay loop fans of the series will appreciate. Still, Diablo Immortal will be the first time Diablo will be available on mobile devices, bringing with it concerns of monetization and hardware capacity. Blizzard will ideally be addressing some of those concerns by offering a PC version of the game.
Even if Diablo Immortal was solely a mobile offering, PC players would find a way to play the latest Diablo game, and Blizzard knew that from the start. In a blog post on Blizzard‘s official website, the developer noted that its decision to develop the game for PC was a decision its development team went back and forth on. Not all games are better on PC than mobile, and Blizzard wanted to avoid a lackluster PC experience for players, according to its blog post. Ultimately, Blizzard’s development team agreed that PC players would inevitably play Diablo Immortal using an emulator anyway, even if it was only offered on mobile devices.
Instead of forcing PC players to use emulators to play the next big Diablo release, Blizzard opted to develop its own PC version of Diablo Immortal. Blizzard’s blog post details its development process, including controller mapping, WASD controls, and HUD scaling. Diablo Immortal‘s PC build was ultimately an experiment, according to the blog post, and will play differently than Diablo games developed for PC. Still, Blizzard has been intentional in bringing its own version of Diablo Immortal to PC, leaving pesky emulators in its dust.
Diablo Immortal will be a welcome distraction for Diablo fans while waiting for Diablo 4. More and more details are being revealed as Blizzard steadily releases development updates on the game, but Immortal may be able to satiate players in the meantime. Diablo Immortal will arrive on mobile devices and PC on June 2, 2022, along with all the loot, dungeons, and demons Blizzard has to offer.
Source: Blizzard
James Tyson is a Gaming Features author. He is an avid movie, TV, games, and comics fan, and is obsessed with how those medium intersect. His current obsession is Marvel’s Avengers, and he will die on that hill.
