It looks like development is beginning to wind down on Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm. The company has announced that it has moved some developers away from the game and over to other projects. Though development on HotS will continue with new heroes and events, the company says that the "cadence will change".
At their Blizzcon event early this month, game developer Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal, a new entry in the long-running series but the first to be released on smartphones. What followed was a huge backlash from fans, mostly on the basis that the game wasn't a true Diablo 4 for PC that they had been expecting. But rather than backing down on plans for additional mobile titles, it appears Blizzard is moving forward with another project based on the Warcraft franchise.
In case you missed the news, Overwatch begins another free promotion today. Usually, these free-to-play periods for Overwatch only last a weekend, but this time around, the game will be free for nearly an entire week. That means you'll be able to play through the holiday weekend and spend a significant amount of time with the game before deciding whether or not to buy.
It seems that most people who want to play Overwatch would have already bought it by now, but if you're one of those few hold outs, then you'll definitely want to set aside some time next week. Blizzard has announced another free promotion for Overwatch, and this one will last almost an entire week. It'll be happening over the Thanksgiving holiday too, which is usually a period when most people have some extra free time.
Now that Overwatch's newest hero, Ashe and her sidekick Bob, have been revealed, players are eagerly awaiting her release in the game's next update. However, Blizzard has begun warning players that the update will be a bit more substantial than the usual patch, and in fact will require a complete reinstallation of the game. This isn't because of Ashe and Bob alone; instead Blizzard is overhauling a significant number of back-end systems with the intent of optimizing the game as a whole.
If you attended BlizzCon in person or bought a virtual ticket to the show, one of the perks you received was a demo to World of Warcraft Classic. The demo period was originally scheduled to end this morning at 10 AM Pacific time, but at the last minute, Blizzard has decided to extend it. That means you vanilla WoW enthusiasts are going to have a little bit longer to spend with the demo before it goes offline for good.
It's probably understating it quite a bit to merely say that the reaction to Diablo Immortal has been negative. Blizzard has received a ton of push back from fans over the idea of a Diablo mobile game, but if you count yourself among the people who are disappointed, you might want to buckle in. As it turns out, Blizzard's mobile strategy may end up being a lot more intense than just a single mobile game for one of its franchises.
It was an interesting weekend for Blizzard, its fans, and the Diablo series. On Friday, Blizzard revealed Diablo Immortal, a new game set between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 that'll be available exclusively on iOS and Android. Fans, in short, weren't pleased by this announcement, and the blowback began almost immediately, with one BlizzCon attendee now-famously asking during a panel that took place almost immediately following the announcement if Immortal was some kind of "out-of-season April Fools joke."
Blizzcon just happened last week and, unsurprisingly, much of the focus was on the company’s biggest money-maker, Overwatch. And there was also that mobile Diablo game announcement that isn’t sitting too well with some Diablo fans. One unexpected news that came out of the weekend was about Destiny 2 on the PC. No, Bungie is still the game’s developers and owners but it has teamed up with Blizzard parent company Activision to offer the base game for free if you grab it before next Sunday.
If you've been playing Overwatch for some time now, you're likely aware of Lucio's in-game references to his own cereal: the support character has a spray for a box of "Lucio-Oh’s" cereal, and after players fell in love with the joke a voice line was also added. At this weekend's BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard made an announcement just for all the dedicated Lucio players out there: a real Lucio-Oh’s cereal is coming to store shelves.
Blizzard has revealed Diablo Immortal, a new game in the Diablo franchise created for mobile devices. This is the first time Diablo fans will get to play within the universe using an Android or iOS mobile device, marking a big turn for the popular video game series. With Diablo Immortal, players have access to half a dozen character classes and a "constantly evolving experience."
Blizzard and LEGO have teamed to launchd half a dozen Overwatch sets featuring characters from the game. This isn't the first time the two companies have worked together; a limited edition Bastion LEGO set was revealed a few weeks ago. The upcoming sets will feature some characters fighting each other, locations from the game, and more.