All the way back at BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard revealed Diablo: Immortal, which would fill in the gaps of the story between Diablo II and Diablo III. However, the fact it was announced as a mobile-only game didn’t exactly go over well with the publisher’s hardcore fans (to put it mildly). Fast forward nearly three and a half years and not only does the game have a release date, but Blizzard announced it’ll be available on PC after all.
Diablo: Immortal will arrive on PC, iOS and Android in most parts of the world on June 2nd. Folks in some Asia-Pacific regions will need to wait a few extra weeks. It’s a free-to-play title with some optional in-game purchases. The PC version will initially be in open beta, but will have all content and features. All progress and purchases will carry over too.
It will feature cross-play and cross-save support for all platforms, so you should be able to switch between PC and your mobile device with ease. The MMORPG allows players to take on challenges with eight-person parties and it has a faction-based PvP system.
In a blog post, Blizzard says it was of two minds about creating a PC version, which it calls “an experiment.” Ultimately, because a large section of fans would likely try to play it through an emulator anyway, the development team decided to create a dedicated PC build.
Unusually for a Diablo game (which are usually point-and-click titles), Diablo: Immortal will have the option of directional keyboard controls. The mobile control system allows for simultaneous movement and attacks, which Blizzard says wouldn’t be possible solely through mouse control alone. There’s also controller support on PC.
Diablo: Immortal was originally supposed to be released last year. However, Blizzard delayed it to 2022 to add some extra polish, including, evidently, on a PC port.
Word of the Diablo: Immortal release date comes at a particularly busy time for Blizzard. Last week, it announced the next semi-annual expansion for World of Warcraft, while the first closed PvP beta test for Overwatch 2 starts tomorrow.
Parent company Activision Blizzard announced this morning that its Q1 revenue was down 22 percent from the previous year. The company, which is facing lawsuits and accusations alleging harassment and misconduct, is the subject of a pending takeover by Microsoft.