Diablo Immortal developers reflect on lessons learned

Diablo Immortal's road to hell was one that for Blizzard got off on the wrong foot. Its presentation at BlizzCon 2018 had a lukewarm reception from fans who were expecting a new Diablo title for their PCs, coupled with the stigma of mobile gaming. A little over 3 years have passed since that presentation, and after several tests and feedback from fans towards the company, have led to the launch of a game that meets Blizzard's internal objectives, but also appeals to fans.

In the days leading up to its release, we had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the people behind Diablo Immortal, Wyatt Cheng, Director of the game, and Peiwen Yao, Executive Producer, who talked to us about their experience in developing the game, as well as how listening to fans helped them deliver a game that has been, according to its developers, to the delight of gamers.

Lessons learned

"I think our vision for Diablo Immortal hasn’t changed," Peiwen Yao immediately answers after asking what some of the lessons learned since its release have been. "We want to bring something new to our players, not only to our old fans, and also to our new fans." For Wyat Cheng, listening to fan feedback on every playtest was what helped Diablo Immortal. "For us. it is about building the game, it’s quite an ambitious game and there is a lot of engame systems for players to engage them," he commented "I think the game has benefited a lot from the testing that we’ve been able to do. We have done three public testing rounds over the last year and a half, and made a huge number of changes to the game to improve it."

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A dark world for everyone

Diablo is a hardcore game for many players, with screens, stats and a fairly deep lore. Bringing this experience from a PC game to mobile is not an easy task, considering all the changes that must be implemented, but keeping its essence. Diablo Immortal is temporarily between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, and fans will find "a lot of familiar characters", but there are more than just cameos in an experience that aims to be balanced, and accessible to any type of player.

"From a high level we got that iconic dark gothic world, and so as just as you see the visuals, the cinematic, it kind of pulls you in immediately," Cheng mentioned. " We welcome you in and lead you through. We do work a lot on our first-time user experience, that’s what we like to call it, the first 30 minutes of the game. That first-time user experience has gotten a lot of revisions through our different beta periods." In terms of controls, Diablo Immortal can be played however you want, and while Cheng stressed that this is a "mobile-first game," a lot of work went into bringing the experience with different peripherals. "On mobile, you got the touch screen. Basically, if you think about the touch screen, on the left there is like a thumbstick, and then on the right, you got your skill buttons. We added controller support and it maps over very well," Cheng commented. "On PC, we did take the time to implement click to move, so the players who were used to previous Diablo games would still be able to do that." "That is the way we envision it as a mobile-first game, so it can be more accessible for more people. But if you really want to sit down in a comfortable place with a larger screen and you want to carry on your mobile progress to your PC and you want to plug in your controller, here you go," Yao concluded.

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The root of all evil

Finally, another point that was discussed was one that causes controversy among fans regardless of the game: monetization and microtransactions. Despite being a legacy title like Diablo, some aspects of current gaming come into the equation, such as having microtransactions and even a Battle Pass, which according to the surveys in the game tests "was extremely popular as wel".

"one of the goals we have here is to provide different ways to play," Yao commented. "Keep in mind it’s an MMOARPG, you really have to play the game and you have to train your skills. some people like items, to buy stuff like cosmetics, which is totally fine as well." "t’s a completely free-to-play game, which everyone can play and enjoy, but we also have very ambitious plans for post-launch content, and I think players understand that as well, right?" commented Cheng. " We don’t sell XP Boosts, we don’t sell gear, we don’t want to circumvent those parts of the game, we want to make sure that the best way to progress your character it’s always gonna be to play the game. During beta, we did test monetization and I would say the most popular purchase was the special deal you get right after clearing the Forgotten Tower dungeon. As you progress your way through the main quest storyline, you get through dungeons, there are special offers that are completely optional."

Diablo Immortal arrived on iOS, Android and PC on June 2.