The system requirements for Diablo Immortal are yet unknown at the time of this posting, but it is a good idea to take a look at the system requirements of current Activision Blizzard mobile games as kind of a reference.

When I launched my iPad Pro (2018), I searched for a widely known mobile game in the Activision Blizzard portfolio:

CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE

The Call of Duty: Mobile is approximately 2GB in size, works on iOS9 or higher, and works on all these Apple devices:

  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 6S/6S Plus
  • iPhone 7/7 Plus
  • iPhone 8/8 Plus
  • iPhone X/XS/XR
  • iPad Mini 4/5
  • iPaid Air 2/3
  • iPad Pro

In the Android side, according to the Activision Tech Support’s FAQ, Call of Duty: Mobile requires 2GB RAM and any device running Android 5.1 or higher. The game has over 100 million downloads worldwide.

With the iPad Pro (2018), I just played 5 minutes ago through boot camp and my first ever Call of Duty: Mobile multiplayer match. I was surprised how easy it is to aim.

I am not particularly good in Overwatch, but for a first-timer in Call of Duty: Mobile, I got MVP with a whooping 10 kills compared to the other 9 players who got barely 3 kills.

Gameplay was smooth with no lag, and this was the reason for my decision to download and install that game. To see if the iPad Pro (2018) could handle it. See how that could be extrapolated to playing Diablo Immortal.

I also took a look at the Store to see how mobile monetization looks like in this Activision Blizzard mobile game. However, it is difficult to make comparisons as it is very very doubtful that you can buy weapons or gear in Diablo Immortal.

That would be a risky move and it doesn’t fit Blizzard’s track record in World of Warcraft or even Hearthstone. But the in-game currency for real money model is common in Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. This is how the Store looks like in Call of Duty: Mobile.

ELDER SCROLLS: BLADES

Well, this is a Bethesda game. But Elder Scrolls: Blades is a mobile RPG game. The gameplay is from first-person perspective. I didn’t particularly enjoy my first gameplay. It would help if there was an auto-focus to look to the front after you move the camera around. It is also confusing how to pick items. You have to literally walk on top of them out of the camera view.

Below is my first Elder Scrolls: Blades gameplay video:

Dialogues are basically turn-based. Lots of clicking to navigate simple NPC dialogues. During the trial there was no training how to block with my shield. Using your sword is as simple as tapping the screen, holding for a second and releasing.

I can’t say I enjoyed the combat either. I was able to navigate through the several layers of menus to check out and equip gear — which is much faster in Diablo III. I think Diablo Immortal is a far better mobile game just based on what I watched in 2019.

There is a lot of character customization in Elder Scrolls: Blades at the character creation screen; as well as many races to pick from. Makes me wonder how that is going to be in Diablo Immortal in comparison.

Something else I do not like much about Elder Scrolls: Blades is the cheapo graphics. Feels like playing a game of Myst (1993) in a 2020 smartphone — with the difference that it has modern lightning and shadows. Textures and skins are cheap. Diablo III in 2018 and 2019 looked superior in a lot of visual aspects, and gameplay.

So I can imagine Diablo Immortal might be more demanding than Elder Scrolls: Blades in terms of CPU power and RAM, which might translate into more restriction on the devices/Android version requirements. We’ll have to wait until Blizzard Entertainment provides more details on that front.

Elder Scrolls: Blades is free to download. Here is a glimpse at how Bethesda monetizes Elder Scrolls: Blades.

Elder Scrolls: Blades is compatible with the following Apple devices:

  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 6S
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 8
  • iPhone X/XS/XR
  • iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max
  • iPad Mini 4/5
  • iPad Air 2/2019
  • iPad 2017-2019
  • iPad Pro

It is not compatible with: iPhone 5s/6/6 Plus nor the iPad Air/Mini 2/Mini 3, iPod Touch.

On the Android support side, the list is very extensive; but if you can use a Samsung to gauge, then anything above Samsung Galaxy S7.

One particular thing about this Bethesda game is that Elder Scrolls: Blades supports Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch devices.

EVIL LANDS

Evil Lands is another RPG game for Android and iOS developed by Rage Quit Games LLC. I played it a day after I wrote this article, for the first time, and it looks very good for a mobile game. Near realistic graphics.

It feels slow to walk the land, but there are a couple of boost speed mechanics. There is no auto-attack like in World of Warcraft, so every swing of the sword or axe is by pressing a button. There is a secondary ability that swings the weapon AOE style in front of the Warrior.

Combat Animations are far better than Elder Scrolls: Blades, but still feels a bit clunky for a landscape that is visually attractive.

It is difficult to find the objectives — say, you are asked to kill 12 blood skeletons… it took me about an hour to find all of them, as their location isn’t marked in the map. You can see enemies as small icons in the minimap. I did notice the Blood Skeletons had some kind of orange glow floating above their heads at safe range.

I spent more time playing this game than I did Elder Scrolls: Blades. It just felt better gameplay-wise.

In terms of monetization, there is not much of it other than gems.

Now as I said, the graphics look far better than Elder Scrolls: Blades, and bordering into realistic. I can now see the system requirements are higher in comparison with Elder Scrolls: Blades and Call of Duty: Mobile.

Requires iOS 11.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, X, XR, XS, XS Max, iPad Air 2,3, iPad Pro, iPad Mini 4, 5.

The game DOES NOT support: iPhone 5S, 6, 6 Plus, iPad Mini 2, 3; iPad Air; iPod Touch.

Needs 2GB RAM.

Requires Android 5.0 and above.

BLADE REBORN

Blade Reborn (by Snail Games) has similarities with Diablo III, but it has many setbacks. The main one is that it is not an open world. I couldn’t find a way to leave the town and explore the open world. It feels like the town is a shared instanced town with other players, and then you select a new location in the map. That location is a mini-dungeon. You go through this small dungeon, and before long the boss is right there. You kill the boss, get the reward UI, then you are back to the town. Rinse and repeat.

That to me feels sad. Fight animations are excellent. Variety of abilities. Different bosses. The way the gameplay is segmented is terrible. Even Hellgate: London felt more open going from station to station. Comparing you with Hellgate: London is always bad. Trust me on this one. Feels good to smash enemies, but overall the experience is not satisfying.

I spent a whole hour playing it for the first time. Evil Lands with its gameplay problems feels much better.

On the bright side, it has several mounts. My first mount was given through a lengthy objectives quest (0/22). After I completed 22/22 and killing several bosses to get there, I was rewarded the mount. Then another multi-objectives quest opened for a Wings reward.

Not everything in Blade Reborn is bad, but it would have been nice to have an open world to explore. Even Anima RPG feels better in that regard than Blade Reborn. Blade Reborn has graphics and color pallettes similar to Diablo III.

Gameplay against bosses feels lacking. Just tank and spank. I rarely moved away from boss mechanics. I didn’t feel in danger of dying. As a matter of fact, I never died in the entire hour I played, nor came below 50% health. In Anima ARPG I felt like I was fighting and running for my life against the first boss. It felt satisfying to level up a bit more and come back to dispense sweet justice for that character death.

Blade Reobrn feels laggy at times during NPC dialogues. I have had to click 3-5 times to go to the next dialogue card. I can hear the sound effect that a click was registered, but the game won’t go to the next dialogue card. The game should be more responsive than that in a mobile device considering how heavily monetized the game is which should pay for better server connectivity.

Requires Android 4.2 or better.

Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Conclusions

I imagine Diablo Immortal will have other type of items to sell: pets, standards, maybe keys to exceptional dungeons (though I am skeptic Blizzard would go the Anima RPG route with keys), and possibly Wings or cloaks. I could also imagine aesthetics such as transmog gear. Maybe increased Stash tabs could be expanded for $0.99+ per extra tab beyond the free limit or gold-acquired tab limit.

There are other features that could be monetized that doesn’t tap into pay to win — which would be absolutely a horrible thing to do. Blizzard Entertainment isn’t known for those practices, so until we see what Blizzard/Netease decide when time is right, I guess we can simply trust based on Blizzard’s track record in monetization plans for Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone.

In terms of requirements, I think we can use these two games requirements as a possible model for Diablo Immortal. Especially, Call of Duty: Mobile which is far more advanced graphics-wise.

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BlizzCon 2019 Panel Transcripts