Diablo Immortal gets surprise delay in China amid microtransaction controversy

Diablo Immortal has been delayed in China until to further notice, as Blizzard’s free-to-play mobile game vanishes days before release. 

Blizzard Entertainment was met with a mixed reception when Diablo Immortal was announced in 2018. The free-to-play mobile and PC title launched at the start of June 2022.

The divisive MMORPG was set to launch in China on June 22, but this appears to have changed at the last minute according to Diablo’s Chinese website.

Blizzard Entertainment shifts Diablo Immortal’s Chinese release date

As discovered by gaming industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, Blizzard has made the last-minute decision to pull the plug on Diablo Immortal’s Chinese release. Diablo players who enter the game’s Chinese website will be greeted with the following message: “We are sorry to inform you that Diablo: Immortal’s scheduled launch on June 23rd will be delayed.”

• Read More: How much money has Diablo Immortal earned so far?

While the news comes as a surprise, the game’s shift to an undetermined release window shouldn’t worry anyone just yet. The delay is a result of the developers aiming to implement further fixes and quality-of-life improvements before it releases.

A further message said, “The development team is working on a number of optimizations to the game.”

This includes “greater device support for a wider range of models, maximum graphics quality on more models, a number of experiences, network and performance optimizations, and more.”

With plenty of fixes underway for the MMORPG, Blizzard expressed that they “believe that the game experience will be smoother in the official launch version” and should in turn bring players “better game content.”

Notably, as spotted by Ahmad, Immortal’s delay has arrived after the Chinese social media platform Weibo banned the game’s official account.