Blizzard’s massive mobile release of Diablo Imperial is a massive success. As the classic game developer’s debut mobile game, there’s no doubt that it’s made a mighty big splash online.
However, despite the game’s huge initial success, Blizzard’s behemoth appears to already be slowing down. But is there a reason for this?
A strong launch for Diablo Immortal
In the first month of release, Diablo Immortal managed to garner over 10 million downloads on Android and iOS. Via Appmagic and Mobilegamerz, the action RPG shattered previous series player numbers.
As the report states, the previous game in the Diablo series’ player numbers were lower than Immortal’s. Diablo 3, released back in 2012, had 6.3 million players in its first week. However, they did not hit 10 million by the end of the month.
Of course, much like many major mobile releases, Diablo Immortal is a free-to-play release. This means that there will always be more players simply looking to try the game out. Some of them may not even make it out of the tutorial.
Over the first month of release, the game has brought in considerable income for Blizzard. In just 30 days, over $49 million was made by the developers, not including the Play Store or App Store revenue split.
Immortal’s release is significant, but it’s far behind the last big mobile release. Prior to the release of Immortal, Apex Legends Mobile garnered over 21 million downloads. However, it did bring in far less revenue at just $11 million.
Downloads are slowing down
Diablo Immortal may have smashed mobile app stores at launch, but it appears that its fire may already be dwindling. Despite a strong start, downloads are plummeting significantly.
Data provided by Mobilegamerz shows a steep half-pipe graph of user downloads. From daily instances of over 1,250,000 downloads, the game now has daily download numbers of around 100,000. Those numbers are only getting smaller.
Downloads for the mobile game drop significantly as time continues. With egregious microtransactions staining the game, creating hordes of negative press, many are unwilling to try the new Diablo game.