Not so Immortal, after all?

I have a feeling that I'll be covering this story all week, as Blizzard continue to let their self-inflicted Diablo Immortal wounds fester, rather than doing the only thing they really can to stop the bleeding. Just apologize, guys. Seriously, what are you waiting for?

In the meantime, though we continue to get half-assed efforts at backlash mitigation, like having the entire Blizzard Diablo team revert their social media avatars from the shiny new D:I version to the less controversial D3 logo. Yes, really.

As reported by ScreenRant:

In an effort to reduce potential backlash and comments (especially on Facebook where users can directly comment on the image) that last night they reverted the social media profile avatars back from Diablo Immortal to Diablo 3.

Screen Rant's games team shared their thoughts earlier on the Diablo Immortal reveal at BlizzCon 2018, how it could (read: should) have been handled better and how some of the reactions certainly cross a line. Still, fans who pay have a right to voice their displeasure and consumers absolutely should be the voice to enact change. It's the only reason Xbox One went from the awful product it was first announced as in 2013 to a console that's in the best position for the next generation of gaming platforms.

Meanwhile, former Diablo II producer Mark Kern continued to champion the gamers in this story, scolding gaming media outlets for continuing to blame gamers for Blizzard's fuck-up. As reported, again, by ScreenRant, who are all over this story:

During the announcement at BlizzCon, a fan made an angry outburst aimed at the developers. As a result, journalists in the gaming industry began criticizing the fan and others on Twitter for the way that they've expressed their disappointment with the upcoming mobile game. In response, Mark Kern said in a tweet that journalists need to stop blaming gamers for the problems with Diablo Immortal.

Blizzard stock dropped 7%. Time for self-reflection there. Game journos will probably blame this on gamers...again. If you hate gamers, quite doing game journalism. We won't miss you. We have youtubers.

— Mark Kern (@Grummz) November 6, 2018

At least some gaming media commentators are getting the message, too. Por ejemplo, this piece, from Marta Subat at Infosurhoy:

My point is, your average Diablo fan is an older gamer who is keenly aware of what is being sold to them and why. They have experienced more than two decades worth of game industry drama, and became better consumers because of it.

So, naturally, when they are being sold something that is a bastardization or betrayal of the standards set by the hobby, or a half-hearted cash grab meant to steal people’s money, they don’t waste time in calling out the developers for it.

The rest of that piece is very good, BTW, and you really should read the whole thing right now. Or you can read this piece at IGN, who very reasonably point out that Blizzard's mobile game announcement didn't have to be a disaster:

When Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls mobile spinoff Blades at E3, it quickly followed it up with a brief, 30-second reveal teaser for The Elder Scrolls 6. The studio even used similar phrasing as Blizzard’s mobile game announcement, touting Blades as a full Elder Scrolls experience and talking about how far phone technology has come. But they did so while acknowledging that their fan base has expectations for a game more in line with the core series they're familiar with.

Microsoft had a similar moment at E3, announcing the Gears POP! mobile game right before Gears 5. Even Nintendo used this tactic last year, showing nothing more than a logo for Metroid Prime 4 after announcing the 3DS remake Metroid: Samus Returns – and we haven’t heard anything about Metroid Prime 4 since then, but fans at least know it's coming.

Like Bethesda, Nintendo had essentially nothing to show for that announcement, but the knowledge that bigger games existed at all was apparently enough. People weren’t exactly thrilled about Gears POP! or Blades, but they also didn’t get mad about them because they weren’t being presented as the main event. Blizzard could have shown a blank screen with “DIABLO 4” spelled out in Comic Sans and said “we have no idea how long this will take to make” during the BlizzCon opening ceremony and it would likely have let people swallow the Immortal pill much easier.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Blizzard's ARPG competitors are making the most of Blizzard's inability to draft a simple apology. The makers of Warhammer: Chaosbane, in particular, took dead aim at Blizzard's ongoing shit-show, as reported by Comicbook.com:

BlizzCon 2018 has officially come to a close but the Diablo debacle lives on. When Blizzard took to the stage to reveal Diablo: Immortal, a new mobile game, fans went nuts in outrage. It's like the Hearthstone reveal all over again. Still, it's not just Diablo fans taking aim at the company for the mobile-only announcement, but other developers as well.

Experience Warhammer: Chaosbane the way it's meant to be played on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019. #Warhammer #Chaosbane pic.twitter.com/V61el4vzcK

— Warhammer: Chaosbane (@WHChaosbane) November 5, 2018

Responses to this broadside were pretty positive, even from Blizzard fans, which is a marked departure from the way Blizzard's fanatically loyal fanbase might have reacted to this much shade from a competitor just a week ago.

The current ARPG heavyweight champion, Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile, also had news to announce to disheartened Diablo fans: their game, which is already playable on PC and XBox One, will also be coming to PS4. As reported by SlashGear:

If you’re one of the people who were disappointed in the announcement of Diablo Immortal last week, you certainly aren’t alone. Luckily, the Diablo series has a number of well-made competitors here in 2018, and perhaps chief among them is Path of Exile, a free-to-play action RPG available for PC and Xbox One. Today, the developer behind Path of Exile, Grinding Gear Games, announced that the wildly successful title will soon make its way to PlayStation 4.

Grinding Gear Games’ announcement today was quite short, but it did tell us that Path of Exile will be arriving on PS4 at some point in December. Path of Exile’s latest challenge league goes live on December 7 with patch 3.5.0, and a post to Path of Exile‘s official forums suggests the PS4 version will launch on that patch as well.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in the way of a specific release date, and it sounds like the PS4 version might be coming some time after update 3.5.0 lands on PC and Xbox One. Still, for Path of Exile fans, it’s probably enough knowing that the game will be here before the end of the year, especially for those who were hoping for something more out of Diablo at BlizzCon.

With all of this fallout still falling, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Activision Blizzard's stock price dropped for a second straight day, which should have the key movers in this fiasco fearing for their jobs. While a marketing and PR fuck-up of these epic proportions might not be enough to start heads rolling at ActiBlizz, but this kind of loss of market value sure might. Hiding and hoping that this will all blow over clearly isn't working, after all, and it's a lot easier to change the coaches of team Blizzard than to replace all of the Diablo team's players.

Seriously, Blizzard... what are you waiting for?

UPDATED Nov. 7th:

I have to give a quick shout-out to Penn State's Daily Collegian, who titled their piece on this story, "Diablo ‘Immortal’ is far from immortal." Great minds think alike, I guess; well played.

I also have to give a shout-out to Quin69, who unearthed the Happy Reaper connection. I'd forgotten all about that April Fool's joke from four years ago; it goes to show how much of a fan both Quin69 and Red Shirt Guy both are.