Naturally, people were upset. This is despite Blizzard and the Diablo developers saying that they have "multiple teams working on different Diablo projects" but they would not talk about all of them during BlizzCon 2018.
These are very exciting times—we currently have multiple teams working on different Diablo projects and we can’t wait to tell you all about them . . . when the time is right.
We know what many of you are hoping for and we can only say that “good things come to those who wait,” but evil things often take longer. We appreciate your patience as our teams work tirelessly to create nightmarish experiences worthy of the Lord of Terror.
We know what many of you are hoping for and we can only say that “good things come to those who wait,” but evil things often take longer. We appreciate your patience as our teams work tirelessly to create nightmarish experiences worthy of the Lord of Terror.
Like, fans know a Diablo 4 is coming, but the rage continued as loudly as a child being denied a piece of candy. Despite this prior reassurance, Blizzard still apparently wanted to reassure fans that Diablo 4 was in development. According to sources speaking with Kotaku, those plans changed just prior to BlizzCon.
It's seems reasonable to assume that Diablo 4 just isn't in any state to show off yet. It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that fans would have remembered that Blizzard already tampered expectations literally weeks ahead of BlizzCon while also giving a not-so-subtle wink and nod that Diablo 4 is coming.
Did these people want to see a logo? That's probably about all that would have been shown off, if anything. Has it not been obvious enough that a Diablo 4 is coming? Given the outrageous and very over-the-top reaction, apparently not.
Announce Immortal, spend a little time introducing the audience to it, give them a "But wait there's more!", show logo for D4, play the opening chord of the Tristram theme or something, "That's right, we're very excited to reveal today that we're working on the next entry in the Diablo franchise, it's still a little too soon to show our work so far but we can't wait to give you a full look at the game soon", lead the audience back into Immortal and set it up as a meaningful entry that people can check out in the meantime.
Because that's what Immortal is, it might be terrible, it might be great, but it's a small time Diablo release which fans could check out while waiting for the next big thing, instead they pretended it was the big event when it really isn't.
The crowd at Blizzcon didn't expect to see Diablo 4, and that's fine, they've lived with lack of news for years.
They wanted to NOT see Diablo Immortal.
How is this not clear? What part of this is not understood? Why are news sites constantly saying that there's somehow some fear that Diablo 4 isn't being worked on? Are you just that incapable of understanding why the crowd was actually upset and you just keep guessing at the reason?
It's very simple. The audience that this game was made for, mobile gamers, didn't go to Blizzcon. The ones that went to Blizzcon, aren't mobile gamers, and don't like mobile games. They don't want to hear about mobile games, they're not interested in mobile games, and telling them that you're making a mobile game for Diablo feels like a slap in the face.
This game is 100% not made for Diablo fans. It's made for mobile gamers to try to get them to become Diablo fans, if only on mobile.
That's why Diablo fans are disgusted with it. This game wasn't made for them. THAT is why they are upset with it and show great dislike towards it. Not because it's somehow supplanting Diablo 4. It's because it exists at all, and especially because it was announced to them at Blizzcon like they were supposed to just chow it down and say "thank you may I have another?"
Make the game if you want, there really isn't a reason not to. But don't announce it to your Diablo fans as if it's something they should be liking and they're stupid for not liking it. "You've got phones, don't you?" = the most out of touch thing they could have possibly said.