The Rapidly Cooling 'Diablo Craze'... Falls Outside Top 5 in Major Global Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The excitement surrounding Blizzard's first-ever mobile-exclusive game, 'Diablo Immortal,' which was simultaneously launched worldwide on the 3rd, is rapidly cooling down.

According to Mobile Index, a big data platform, on the 18th, Diablo Immortal ranked 5th on South Korea's Google Play and 3rd on the App Store in terms of revenue. In terms of downloads, it fell outside the top 5 on both major markets.

Diablo Immortal received intense attention even before its release. It surpassed 35 million pre-registrations worldwide and ranked first in download rankings on the App Store in over 40 countries within a day of its launch. In South Korea, it also surpassed 1 million downloads within a day and maintained the number one spot in download rankings on both major markets for about a week.

However, its popularity is rapidly declining both domestically and globally. In the U.S., it showed a downward trend, ranking 7th on Google Play and 8th on the App Store in terms of revenue. In Japan, it has continued to perform below expectations, falling outside the top 10 on both major markets, unlike the initial global sensation it caused.

Industry experts attribute Diablo Immortal's decline to a rapid depletion of content and excessive charges for the 'Dungeon Entry Ticket.' Early-stage bugs and errors also contributed to the downward trend.

The fierce competition in the role-playing game (RPG) market is another negative factor for Diablo Immortal. In South Korea, most of the top games on both major markets are RPGs, and new releases without key differentiating elements from existing popular games tend to experience only brief popularity before falling out of the rankings. At one point, Diablo Immortal seemed to surpass long-standing top-ranking domestic games but was eventually overtaken again by titles such as 'Lineage M,' 'Odin: Valhalla Rising,' and 'Dungeon & Fighter Mobile.'

Meanwhile, Blizzard, which urgently needs to improve its performance after a 22% drop in revenue and a 40% decrease in operating profit in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, is unlikely to see a performance rebound anytime soon due to Diablo Immortal's underwhelming results.