by theygamesBy all accounts, Diablo Immortal is actually shaping up to be pretty good, though it continues to be an indicator to long-time fans that the Activision in Activision-Blizzard is standing a lot taller than the Blizzard these days. The company says it plans to “apply the Call of Duty framework across our other franchises”, and that starts with a free mobile Warcraft title.
Activision-Blizzard says in today’s financial earnings call that Call of Duty’s modern business model has proven quite successful, and it wants to apply that success to every other IP in its catalogue. That means a combination of premium game releases (like Cold War), free-to-play experiences (Warzone), mobile titles (Call of Duty Mobile), and regular content updates (everything).
Diablo Immortal is part of that broader initiative, but the company highlights Warcraft as another title that’s in line for a mobile spin-off. “Multiple mobile titles” are in the works at Blizzard, and while the company did not confirm an Overwatch spin-off in the same vein, they say that there are plans for new business model initiatives “across platforms” for the hero shooter.
Blizzard has indicated that it’s doubling down on mobile in the past, but it looks like we’ll start seeing the fruits of those efforts soon. Likely as soon as BlizzCon later this month. Back in 2019, Blizzard was rumoured to be working on a mobile Warcraft spin-off similar to Pokémon Go, though the pandemic would likely force the company to consider a different approach.
Hopefully we’ll also be seeing that Diablo 4 release date and Overwatch 2 release date soon, so that we’ll have a better idea of what Blizzard’s more traditional titles are going to look like going forward.