Bad news for Diablo fans. Blizzard Entertainment’s long-awaited Diablo Immortal mobile game, which was supposed to release this year, has been delayed to early 2022. The delay was announced in a press release distributed by the company on August 3.
The decision was made after the developers sifted through feedback gathered from the game’s Closed Alpha testing. From improved long-term goals to controller support, these adjustments and incorporated feedback just won’t be finished in time to release the game this year, as stated in the company’s press release:
However, these changes and additional opportunities to improve our gameplay experience will not be realized in the 2021 timeframe we had previously communicated. So, the game is now planned for release in the first half of 2022, which will allow us to add substantial improvements to the whole game.
Some highlighted feedback included players’ desire for more Player vs. Environment (PvE) social goals and activities. The team plans to add Raids in the Helliquary system, offering a boss challenge that up to 8 players can tackle. Bounties will also be remodeled to be “more engaging and fruitful.” Other players criticized the Challenge Rifts, stating that they weren’t rewarding. The team plans to fix this PvE goal by making the rewards be new upgrade materials that are strictly obtained by those challenges.
On the flip side, Player vs. Player (PvP) is also planned to be tinkered with. The Battleground system, where players could challenge each other, is receiving revised matchmaking, earning rankings, class balance, time to kill, and more, to improve the experience in the Battleground overall. The team also stated that the PvPvE raid, Cycle of Strife, will be optimized as well.
Other focuses for further development are controller support and character progression. Players desired to experience the game in their own way with whatever controller method works best for them. Blizzard recognized this and is “working through the challenges,” involving “adapting” touch screen controls to separate controllers.
As for character progression, different aspects are being evaluated. From gear compatibility with character level to a “weekly XP cap” design, Blizzard still has a lot to develop and improve to provide fans with an exceptional mobile gaming experience. As of now, Diablo Immortal is slated for release in early 2022.