Blizzard landed themselves in a bit of hot water over the weekend when their Diablo announcement ended up being a mobile-exclusive title, with no console or PC franchise entry in sight. After immense amounts of backlash, it turns out the announcement may not have gone quite as Blizzard had originally planned. A report by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier indicates that the company had originally planned to tease Diablo 4, but it was pulled at the last minute, leaving a void that caused the disappointment of expectant fans.
Few publishers and developers can have an entire massive convention devoted just to them and their games, but Blizzard is a long lauded studio with a great stable of games and franchises that warrant just such an event. At the BlizzCon 2018 opening ceremony Blizzard took the opportunity to reveal a number of things, such as the 29th character for Overwatch. Near the end of the ceremony, fans finally got what they thought they’d been waiting for: a Diablo announcement. Except it wasn’t the sequel they’d been hoping for. Diablo Immortal is a free-to-play mobile title, and with that, Blizzard concluded their announcements. No Diablo 4 trailer. Not even a tease. Just a free-to-play mobile game that many fans saw as a stain on the franchise they loved. Schreier’s report cites to sources familiar with the situation, both of whom said that Blizzard had intended to show Diablo Immortal and then end with a brief teaser confirming Diablo 4. Th...