mobile origins, Immortal grew wax wings and flew too close to Diablo IV Gold the PC gaming sun. For a loyal audience to whom Blizzard had pandered for years, that was considered unforgivable.
I get it. The monetization criticisms hold water, but the prospect of overspending isn’t always the actual reason why console gamers are so upset. The truth is simpler: Mobile represents another front in the never-ending culture war for the heart and soul of gaming. But I have to question if it has to be a war at all.
Before Immortal was announced, Diablo fans could safely ignore mobile games as “cash grabs” that would never affect the premium games that they wanted to play. But ever since Blizzard announced that the game would be a full Diablo experience, these gamers have felt threatened by what they perceive as mobile’s encroachment on “legitimate” gaming. In fact, the game raised so many concerns that Blizzard’s community manager had to clarify that Diablo IV would not have “mobile-style monetization.”
But it wasn’t enough for Blizzard to make promises to the fans. The press was also expected to fall in line with “Immortal is bad.” On June 4, there was an incendiary tweet from a Twitch streamer that lambasted journalists for saying that Diablo Immortal is…well, fun. I was unsurprised, because I was met with similar public hostility when I started writing about Genshin Impact. If a journalist is “too positive” about a mobile game, then a very vocal segment of gamers will decry them as a traitor to gaming and a corporate shill. To these players, the rise of F2P gaming is a virus that needs to be stamped out. Especially before it “takes over” gaming at large.
Despite all the background noise (or maybe because of it), I felt compelled to download Diablo Immortal and play for cheap Diablo 4 Gold a bit. For context:
