When Diablo Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018 as a free-to-play, mobile-only entry in Blizzard's storied ARPG franchise, it was met with a tepid response from fans. One player in attendance went so far to ask if the game was an out of season April Fool's joke on Blizzard's part.

Flash forward to now, after Blizzard recently announced Diablo Immortal would also be coming to PC (in what is being labeled a beta) with full cross-play and cross-progression with mobile, and the fan reaction has changed. Many players are now cautiously optimistic about the franchise's foray into mobile and free-to-play.

That's good news, because while Diablo Immortal might not look it at first glance, it's shaping up to be a major game-changer for the franchise going forward, sporting MMO-like social features, an emphasis on PvP, and a live-service, "living game" strategy never before seen in the history of Diablo.