Diablo Immortal postponed in China just days before launch

Diablo Immortal ancient nightmare lord martanos shield shield altars zone event — (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Diablo Immortal has reportedly been delayed in China just three days before launch.

Writing for Reuters earlier today on June 20, Hong Kong-based reporter Josh Ye writes that NetEase, the Chinese publisher of the game, has pulled the launch of Diablo Immortal throughout China. The game was apparently meant to launch yesterday on Sunday, June 19, but the launch was actually pulled by Blizzard back on Thursday, June 16, just three days before release on PC and mobile platforms.

This apparently comes hot on the heels of Diablo Immortal's Weibo social media account being banned from making new posts on the Chinese social media website. Neither Blizzard nor NetEase has commented on the suspension of the account or revealed why it was banned in the first place.

Article continues below

NetEase claims that Diablo Immortal was delayed to make gameplay adjustments and improvements, such as "multiple optimization adjustments." NetEase shares actually fell more than 9% earlier today on Monday, June 20, and it's not hard to imagine this as a fallout of the last-minute delay to Diablo Immortal in China.

Looking to the wider internet, there's been plenty of speculation as to why Diablo Immortal's launch has been postponed. Some ResetEra users claim the official Diablo Weibo account made a reference to Winnie the Pooh (something that got Detention developer Red Candle Games in hot water years ago), and could've resulted in the account being banned.

Diablo Immortal first launched in multiple regions throughout the world earlier this month on June 2. The new mobile/PC spin-off game surpassed 10 million downloads in just a few days after launch, making it the single biggest game launch in the Diablo franchise, despite facing intense criticism from players over its use of microtransactions. In fact, the game never even launched in Belgium and The Netherlands due to legislation against loot boxes and microtransactions.

Head over to our guide on the Diablo Immortal Shadow Lottery, Shadows and Immortals explained for more.