Diablo Immortal is part of a wider Activision Blizzard mobile strategy

Call me a shill as I sit on the luxury poop deck of the SS Sell-Out yacht, but there’s a part of me that’s still keen on Diablo Immortal. Even though the game has been getting a ton of flak from fans since it was announced at BlizzCon 2018, I still think there’s the potential there for a solid mobile experience provided that it doesn’t grab you by the ankles and attempt to shake every coin out of your pockets.

Here’s the thing: Money talks far louder than a fan demanding to know if Diablo Immortal is an out of season April Fool’s joke, and you can look at Activision’s other successful venture into that territory to see that their mobile strategy is a lucrative one. “There’s a lot more to come on mobile too. CoD Mobile is off to a really great start, but we’re just scratching the surface of what that franchise can be on mobile, and then integrating the experiences across multiple platforms, we know is just an incredible opportunity for the franchise,” Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin said during a Q&A section of yesterday’s quarterly financial call via PC Gamer.

“But to the early successes [of Call of Duty: Mobile], they do represent incredible proof points as to your question of how the franchise strategy is really working. And it certainly applies to a lot of other franchises that we have. We see that our current players really want more ways to engage with their favourite IP, be it through mobile or other platforms, and that offering authentic and really deep experiences on new platforms can drive much higher engagement. And this quarter’s results really shows that.”

Call of Duty Mobile makes fat stacks of cash through the usual avenues for Activision: Loot boxes, item skins with hefty prices and a premium pass that works out to about R450. People are clearly willing to pay that kind of money for an augmented free-to-play experience, and Diablo Immortal will most likely have a similar spin on its free-to-slay gameplay when it eventually launches. “So these proof points are relevant across our portfolio,” Durkin added.

And on that note, here’s some fresh gameplay from the Chinese Diablo Immortal website which shows the warriors of Sanctuary having a Ball of a time. Wow tough audience, I’m going back to my yacht to count my shill-ings.

This article was brought to you by Critical Hit