The search for signs of Diablo Immortal Beta and failing miserably is over. The new Diablo Community Development Lead Adam Fletcher is taking the bull by the horns in his new role and tweeted fans using no hashtags — which means it was meant for a “small” crowd of 22.6K followers: “Who are some of your favorite mobile content creators and why?“
It seems there are steps being made to prepare the Diablo Immortal Google Play page for the upcoming beta.
For many many months, the Google Play page had been static with no updates. But something simple, yet undeniably different can be seen in the page.
Compare this screenshot I posted on September 26, 2019.
One of the most secretive aspects of Diablo Immortal is the monetization. What will it be like? How will it be implemented? We won’t get a definitive answer just yet.
When asked, Wyatt Cheng basically said the team is focusing on gameplay first, making sure the game is fun. Then, they will iron out the specifics on what monetization might be.
Not everyone believed that due to an image that circulated online showing Wyatt Cheng and Netease developers next to a Powerpoint presentation showing Diablo Immortal monetization ideas — as posted by a Reddit user.
Personally, I can’t confirm that what the reddit user said is true. I don’t read Korean, and the image quality isn’t great. So I wouldn’t be able to know if someone who does read the language can even identify the letters or words from that image.
In a very curious move, Blizzard Entertainment is searching for a Senior Concept Artist to join the Diablo Immortal team from home (for now).
On February 22, 2019 Netease revealed they had completed their development of Diablo Immortal, handing it over back to Blizzard Entertainment for polishing and completion.
A bit over a year now since then, all we know is that Diablo Immortal beta testing is slated to start mid-2020 — as revealed during the Activision Blizzard Q4 2019 financial report. A good guess would be: any time between the May-August range. If it was to be taken literally, then “June” is the mid-2020 month.
During the BlizzCon 2018 Diablo Immortal panel, Wyatt Cheng said something that has been poking the back of my mind ever since. Something that has made me think that Diablo Immortal is not just to tell the story of what happened five years after Diablo II’s Worldstone destruction, but also serve as a primer for Diablo IV.
That thing poking at the back of my mind is that there is not just other worlds out there — as revealed to the dragon Trag’Oul in Diablo: The Sin War (Vol. 3) — but there are also other timelines. If you are into DC Comics or Marvel Comics — you know what I mean: a multiverse of alternate timelines.
When Blizzard announces a World of Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo game or expansion, sooner or later we will see listings of new novels or books at least 8-12 months before the game/expansion ships.
Now we know that Diablo Immortal is heading to Beta Testing in the middle of 2020 (which can be interpreted to be in June at the earliest).
It is official. Activision Blizzard revealed that Diablo Immortal will enter its beta testing phase in the middle of 2020. No specific date was provided, but the exact middle of the year is June. So any date within June, and even July is a fair approximate of when to expect the beta.
This was revealed by Cody Johnson during the Activision Blizzard Q4 2019 financial results conference call held yesterday (Feb 6). You can read the transcript here.
Not long ago, I posted that Blizzard was searching for a QA/Tester Developer.
Now Blizzard Entertainment is searching for a “Community Manager, Global Publishing, Diablo Franchise” with experience working on mobile games, and managing and growing mobile gaming communities.
Within the past 24 hours, Blizzard Entertainment posted a job opening for a Associate Test Analyst for the Diablo Immortal team specifying the role as QA/Test Developer.
After finding the job opening, I used a known technique to find out when a page was first published. In this case: 1 day ago.
A chinese streamer was allowed by Blizzard Entertainment to livestream his Diablo Immortal gameplay for nearly two hours.
The game starts with the hero being rowed through the river by a ferryman.
Ferryman: This is it… the dock for Wortham. That whole village has gone to hell… You sure I can’t take you someplace else?
Demon Hunter: Yes, I am. Wortham is beyond the forest I take it?
Ferryman: Aye, follow the road and be on your guard. Unfortunate things happen to travelers in that forest…
