Blizzard’s announcement for 2018 regarding Diablo Immortal was received with the same enthusiasm as the lead balloon. Diablo fans who were hoping for a brand new game within the series were not pleased to see the studio choose to release a mobile game and did not hide their feelings about it, describing it as “disrespectful” and “a slap in the face.” Blizzard admitted that the force that the criticism was a shock to the system (although it was careful to not criticize those “fans” responsible for it) and was able to learn from the incident. It’s not that mobile games are not bad, but however, big, well-publicized announcements aren’t the most effective method to promote them.
This could be the reason why the initial wording of a brand new Warcraft game for mobile was not revealed at the top of the stage of BlizzCon and not amid the Activision Blizzard’s Q4 2021 financial results announcement. It’s not like there’s much to talk about regarding it: “Blizzard is planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including new experiences in World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time.”
There’s no other information available the game could be as simple as a remake to the classic Warcraft RTS, some kind of mobile spinoff that’s completely new, or perhaps Hearthstone 2, although that is highly unlikely. There’s a chance that we’ll finally be able to play the Pokemon Go-style game that is based on Warcraft that we were told about in the year the year 2018. (Personally I’m convinced that it’s likely this is exactly what it’s going to be.)
Whatever Blizzard is cooking up It’s evident that the experience of Diablo Immortal isn’t deterring Blizzard from bringing its most popular games to the mobile platform. It’s not too surprising since in this same report on financials, Activision Blizzard said its mobile net bookings increased by 18% year-over-year and accounted for 33% of the company’s total net bookings for the first quarter. In addition, Call of Duty net bookings on PC and consoles did decline during the period, “reflecting lower premium sales for Call of Duty: Vanguard versus the year ago title and lower engagement in Call of Duty: Warzone,” Call of Duty Mobile increased by a significant amount, due to expansion in China.
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