Diablo Immortal Coming to PC

The phrase “What, you have cell phones don’t you?” hasn’t exactly aged well since Blizzard used it to justify Diablo Immortal’s existence. Just a few years after that statement was made, Activision Blizzard seems to understand that cell phones aren’t always convenient. Either that or they’ve made this latest announcement to appease the fanbase they ticked off with that statement.

According to an announcement made on Monday, Diablo Immortal will no longer be a mobile-only title. While it is still coming to iOS, the game will also be made available on PC. On June 2^nd, Diablo Immortal will be available for most regions, though the Asia-Pacific regions will get access to it a few weeks later. Here is what the press release has to say about Diablo Immortal.

“In addition to offering an uncompromised AAA experience on mobile, the most ambitious game released in the Diablo franchise’s 25-year history will enter into Open Beta on Windows® PC at launch. Diablo Immortal supports both cross-play and cross-progression, allowing Sanctuary’s heroes to join the fight with each other regardless of platform while being able to seamlessly transition between mobile and PC gameplay. The Open Beta on PC will contain all game features, including cross-play and cross-progression, and upon conclusion all progress will be maintained.

With the fate of Sanctuary in their hands, players will choose between six iconic Diablo classes–Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, or Wizard–and embark on a journey through eight unique zones and the great city of Westmarch. They will join up with new and familiar Diablo characters, including the franchise’s patriarch Deckard Cain, on an expansive quest to hunt down the shattered pieces of the corrupted Worldstone before the forces of the Burning Hells can gather them for their own sinister plans in an epic all-new story taking place between the events of Diablo II and Diablo III.

Diablo Immortal features a MMOARPG (massively multiplayer online action-RPG) social experience that’s completely new to the series. Players will share a massive world with others as they explore Sanctuary, form Warbands with up to eight members to take on group challenges such as the intense Helliquary raid bosses, and join Clans with up to 150 friends to earn challenging Clan Achievements.

The game also features a robust faction-based PvP system. With the Cycle of Strife, players can band together to fight in an ongoing war in which the top player of the server will earn the Eternal Crown to become the leader of the Immortals. This puts them in the position of having to continuously defend their reign across a series of modes including brutal 1v30 showdowns.

Diablo Immortal will be free-to-play with optional in-game purchases, ensuring the core game experience will always be free. Developed by Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase, Diablo Immortal will be available at launch on iOS®, Android®, and Windows® PC via Battle.net®. Over 30 million players have already pre-registered across all platforms to gain access as soon as the game launches, preparing themselves for the battles to come.

All players will receive the stunning Horadrim Cosmetic Set to celebrate this significant milestone when the game launches.* This is just the beginning, as new content will be released regularly to players for free in the years to come, including new zones, dungeons, and character classes.”

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra commented on the upcoming release, stating: “The demons of the Burning Hells are ready to be slain in the most expansive Diablo game that Blizzard has ever released. As Blizzard’s first game designed from the ground up for mobile, it was important to us to deliver an experience worthy of the franchise, so we did a lot of testing, incorporated a lot of feedback, and created a game that we’re very excited to share with players. We’re looking forward to unleashing this epic new entry in the Diablo franchise, and we can’t wait to join everyone in Sanctuary.”

I wouldn’t exactly say that this release on PC is entirely benevolent though. In the Blog Post announcing the PC version, the team stated: “The decision to develop Diablo Immortal for PC was one that the team went back and forth on for a large part of the development process. On one hand, we felt that we wouldn’t be doing the title justice by releasing a game originally designed for mobile on PC; on the other hand, we wanted to make sure the game reached as many players as possible—especially our most dedicated PC fans. In the end, the deciding factor was that we knew many of you would attempt to play this game through an emulator, thus leading us towards building a better experience.”

Ultimately, they released it on PC so that they’d have a wider player base to hopefully squeeze microtransactions out of. It makes sense really, though I think doing it to combat emulation is a strange justification when they derided people that initially were displeased at it being a mobile title to start with. I can’t say I’m all that excited about Diablo Immortal, but I may try to play it entirely free while I’m waiting for Diablo IV to launch.