Is there a Diablo Immortal console version? After many long months of testing, Blizzard’s latest entry in its beloved dungeon-crawling series is finally here, and it’s a bit different from those past games.
First of all, it’s free-to-play and secondly, it’s been primarily designed for smartphones. Having just launched on iOS and Android, those who haven’t checked in with the game since its announcement may be surprised to hear that it’s also available on PC. Naturally, this has prompted gamers to ask whether a Diablo Immortal console edition is happening.
Although viewed as a PC-first franchise, there’s a history of Diablo games appearing on consoles, starting with a PlayStation port of the original way back in 1998. Diablo III saw Blizzard fully pivot towards a multi-platform focus, quickly releasing it on PS3 and Xbox 360, which has since been followed by beefed up versions on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
However, there are currently no plans for Diablo Immortal to appear on any of these systems – nor is there a whiff of it on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S. It’s a missed opportunity, you may think, especially as the game supports controllers on smartphones and PC.
Controller support and console support are two very different things, says Diablo franchise GM Rod Fergusson. In the same interview game director, Joe Grubb, says that adding the feature “was part of our goal to bring Diablo Immortal to new audiences and make it more accessible”.
When asked about a potential Diablo Immortal console port, “never say never” was Fergusson’s response, “but we have nothing to announce or say today”.
There’s definitely a door open, but will Blizzard greenlight plans to get its newest game on PS5 and other consoles? It could go either way. On one hand, Diablo Immortal is already proving hugely popular, even though critics have picked apart its greedy monetisation. Bringing the game to other systems could bump up the playerbase, but would give Blizzard more plates to spin, especially if these versions all need to be cross compatible in some way. Having only just launched in June 2022, the developers are focusing resources on supporting the mobile and PC versions while creating new content.
Then there’s Diablo 4. Blizzard hasn’t locked in a release date for its mainline sequel, though what we do know is that it will launch on both PC and consoles at the same time with many speculating that we will see it launch in 2023. Although two separate games, there will be an unmistakable overlap between Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal, and the potential scenario that players may stick with the latter free-to-play entry instead of buying the former.
So, right now there’s no Diablo Immortal for console and, if we had to guess, it won’t be launching on other systems beyond iOS, Android, and PC.
