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Comment by d0m | Hacker News Reader

Fans aren't angry about the diablo mobile game. They're angry because they were expecting a Diablo4 announcement and blizzard announced a diablo mobile game.. this is very different. IMHO the problem was in the way it was communicated, not with the game itself. It would have been very different if blizzard said:

  A) We've hired amazing people and we're working super hard on the next big Diablo title on PC, and here's one cool cinematic / picture to show it.
  B) A *separate* team of amazing devs has achieved the impossible and created a brand new diablo experience on mobile.

Instead, they announced to the A) fans they were working on B) instead of A).

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The venue is just weird, why would they even announce a Diablo mobile game at BlizzCon? The people who care enough about Blizzards games to attend or follow BlizzCon DO NOT CARE about mobile games, at all.

The people handling marketing and products at Blizzard, and EA, and Bethesda aren't in touch with their most loyal fans. I can only imagine how much money there must be in in-game transactions, given that all three companies continue to upset fans that don't mind paying $60 for a new release.

But hearthstone exists. This is clear evidence that some portion of the community does care about mobile games at blizzcon.

The mobile version of hearthstone came long after the pc version.

And a TCG is much easier todo on mobile without sacrificing game depth. Diablo 3 wasn't even very deep but you couldn't port that to mobile because the controls just don't work like that.

Nonsense. One month after the official release: Windows, macOS — March 11, 2014; iOS — April 16, 2014.

The mobile game is just a reskin of an existing Netease (Chinese) game. Mobile games are also full of microtransactions which players already protestested in Diablo 3 with the real money auction house. Players actually are angry about a Diablo mobile game.

Exactly.

Instead of saying "don't you have phones?" they should have said "We are working on a new Diablo PC title but we aren't ready to talk about it yet".

Would have been a very different reaction.

But imagine yourself up on stage in front of thousands of people, with 2 or 3 seconds to come up with an answer while you are not allowed to mention any unannounced games. What would you have said? This is hard and many of us would not have done much better than this on the spot.

The only "better" answer that I can think of would be a vague, general hint that Blozzard is working on more titles than those that are announced. But that would immediately be interpreted as "Diablo IV confirmed" and blown out of proportion.

The gaming community has in recent years developed a culture of latching on to smallest of hints, letting their imagination roam freely to create a kind of groupthink dream of what the project would be. And than they react not only with disappointment, but also with hate, anger and aggression against the developers when these dream bubbles are busted. This lack of moderation in the community is disconcerting and if we don't find efficient ways to dampen that, we will see this get out of hands.

Games are made by companies for profit. If they release something that you like, enjoy it. If you don't like it, move on. I don't understand any need to fuel hate to the levels we are seeing repeatedly these days.

> imagine yourself up on stage in front of thousands of people, with 2 or 3 seconds to come up with an answer

I know, that's why you usually prepare a series of answers for QAs.

And sure, some things you can't prepare for, but a PC question from fans of a PC game is inevitable.

> But imagine yourself up on stage in front of thousands of people, with 2 or 3 seconds to come up with an answer while you are not allowed to mention any unannounced games.

I'm almost certain it was partially rehearsed.

Is it Blizzard's fault that people are downvoting and posting abusive comments on the Diablo Immortal gameplay trailer? Or is that campaign of harassment perhaps the fault of the players who felt betrayed that a much loved hack & slash game was being introduced to a new market?

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