Blizzard is facing an unprecedented backlash after it ended its BlizzCon opening ceremony with the announcement of a Diablo mobile game.
Diablo Immortal is a brand new Diablo game set in the Diablo universe and exclusive to mobiles. It's developed by Blizzard in partnership with Chinese video game company NetEase.
The backlash kicked off on social media and websites such as reddit as soon as the announcement was made, with universal criticism of the game and Blizzard from those who were watching online.
But there has also been an outcry at BlizzCon itself, where fans complained about the Diablo mobile game being used as the big finish to an event that charged hundreds of dollars for a ticket.
If there's a focal point for the backlash, then it is a fan who asked Blizzard developers whether Diablo Immortal was "an out of season April Fools' joke" during a Q&A session on mic, on stream and in a crowd of hundreds.
A recording of this awkward exchange has gone viral on social media, and the Diablo community has pounced upon it. r/diablo is currently packed with comments from angry Diablo fans who are hitting out at Blizzard over the existence of Diablo Immortal and the nature of its reveal, and some have accused the game of being a "reskin" of another NetEase mobile game called Crusaders of Light. The video, below, is being used to point out both games have remarkably similar user interfaces.
Now the devs are attacking the fans and claiming not liking phone games is a sign of toxic masculinity.
