After many announcements, NetEase's key bet on game products in 2022 ushered in the official launch.

At 0:00 on July 25, the MMOARPG game "Diablo: Immortal" jointly developed by NetEase and Blizzard was officially launched on all platforms of the national server. As of press time, “Diablo: Immortal” ranks first in the iOS free list, and Mobilegamer.biz data shows that its international server downloads have exceeded 20 million.

On the same day that the game was launched, CICC released a research report saying that the negative factors of the game's postponement were lifted, and it gave an "outperform industry" rating and a target price of HK$210.

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On February 9, 2021, "Diablo: Immortal" was included in the list of imported games approved by the National Press and Publication Administration.

On February 24, NetEase’s 2021 Q4 conference call, NetEase CEO Ding Lei revealed that the game will be launched in the first half of 2022.

On May 20, NetEase held a game conference, and "Diablo: Immortal" debuted as the finale of the last new game in the audience. At the same time, NetEase officially announced the launch plan of the game - the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia will be launched simultaneously on all platforms on June 23.

However, the news of the delay of the national service launch of "Diablo: Immortal" announced on June 19 caused the share price of NetEase's Hong Kong stock to drop by 10%. At that time, NetEase officially announced that the delay in the launch of the national server was because the development team was making a number of optimization adjustments to the game, such as support for a wider range of models and devices, the highest picture quality on more models, and a lot of experience. , network and performance optimization, and more.

However, judging from the data of its overseas market, the delay in going online may be a "good luck".

As early as June 2, "Diablo: Immortal" was officially launched in overseas countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. AppMagic data shows that the number of downloads of "Diablo: Immortal" peaked on the day it was launched in overseas markets, attracting about 1.32 million downloads, and its first week of downloads reached 6.85 million. At the same time, according to AppMagic estimates, the game can generate at least $1 million (about 6.763 million yuan) in revenue per day within a month of its release in overseas markets.

In the first month after its launch, "Diablo: Immortal" accumulated about 10.35 million downloads, contributing nearly 49 million US dollars (about 320 million yuan) in revenue to Blizzard.

Sensor Tower data shows that in June 2022, in the overseas market revenue rankings of Chinese mobile game products, “Diablo: Immortal” airborne ranked third on the list.

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NetEase's bet on "Diablo: Immortal" is inseparable from the global influence of Diablo IP, the decline of mobile game business growth, and its plan to further expand overseas markets.

"Diablo" is an action RPG game launched by Blizzard Entertainment in 1996 and has a history of 26 years. As the first sequel to the "Diablo IP", "Diablo 2" was launched in 2000 and reached 4 million sales in just one year.

In 2012, Diablo 3 was officially released. According to Blizzard's official data, the sales of Diablo 3 reached 3.5 million on the day of its release, and 6.3 million in the first week.

Under the "halo" of the previous work, after the "Dark" IP was moved to the small screen, how was the attention? In the 2022Q1 financial report released by NetEase on May 24, NetEase disclosed the number of reservations for "Diablo: Immortal", of which the number of reservations in China has exceeded 15 million, and the number of reservations in the world has exceeded 35 million.

On the other hand, “Diablo: Immortal” NetEase, as one of the important products of this year, is also the point of expectation for revenue growth in 2022.

The game business has always been the bulk of NetEase's revenue. The 2021 fiscal year financial report shows that NetEase’s game net income for the year was 62.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%. The mobile game business accounts for about 70.4% of the revenue, which is the main source of income for its game business. However, compared to the previous fiscal year, this revenue has declined, down 1.5% year-on-year. 21 After reviewing NetEase's 2019-2021 financial report, the reporter found that this is the first time that this data has shown a downward trend in the past three years.

"Under the catalysis of uncertain factors such as the decline in mobile game revenue and the superimposed version number, "Diablo: Immortal", as a new mobile game product of NetEase, undertakes the task of 'overtaking the curve' in NetEase's game revenue." A game industry analyst told 21 reporters.

The choice of the mobile game "Diablo" to be released overseas also corresponds to NetEase's vision to increase the proportion of the overseas market.

In the evening conference call on May 24, Ding Lei, CEO of NetEase, said that at present, the revenue of NetEase games overseas accounts for more than 10%. In the future, the company hopes that the proportion of overseas markets can reach 40% to 50%. In the next 3 to 4 years, I hope to adjust the revenue structure of the game business and the number of domestic and overseas games to a more reasonable ratio.

The familiar BD is back

Following the international server's high revenue of more than 54 million US dollars in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Europe and other countries and regions, the national server reserved by 15 million players was officially opened for download at 0:00 on July 25th, and the Dark Immortal mobile game is expected to be downloaded. Continue your myth of popularity and influence!

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Diablo Immortal mobile game currently has six major occupations for players to choose from, namely witcher, barbarian, monk, magician, crusader and necromancer. They have all appeared in the "Diablo" series of works, and have their own plots and settings. In actual operation, like the original, they have active skills and a whole skill board, and they will also activate new abilities as they level up. Therefore, the Diablo Immortal mobile game has restored the most classic, most well-known and most fascinating "BD" of the Diablo series to a large extent.

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What is BD? Simply put, players can develop their own characters to be unique and invincible by freely matching equipment and skills. In the battle of one copy and one level, you can reap the fun of repeated battles, that is, "swipe". Today, the mobile game of Diablo Immortal, which relies on the mobile terminal as the carrier, has inherited this very well. Because the game maintains a variety of character occupations and skills, while the sound effects, the sense of strike, and the smoothness of actions are all excellent. These factors are intuitively fed back in the battle, greatly enhancing the feel and operability of Diablo Immortal, so that players are willing and happy to play.

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The plot of the Dark Immortal mobile game is also very commendable. Its timeline is defined between Diablo II and Diablo III, and Diablo and his men attempt to use the remaining evil power of the World Stone to re-call the Lord of Terror. The world believed that the Archangel Tyrael was dead and a new Neotian was desperately needed. This huge world view and the story line of multiple forces are mixed, and the Dark Immortal mobile game is told in the form of the classic "dungeon advancement" of the original work. In the process of going deep into the main line and going to different regions in the early stage, in addition to the main task bar on the left, the player's focus is mostly placed in nearly ten dungeons such as Vossan, Ashward, Westmar, etc., while imagining the refreshing battle , learn about the new story of Sanctuary, which is supplemented by Diablo Immortal mobile game.

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So whether you are an old fan of the Diablo series, a fan of BD games, or a new player who wants to "refill" the Diablo series, you can come and experience the Diablo Immortal mobile game in depth. I believe that this new Diablo series with high quality, careful production, and platform portability will take you to the mysterious and fantasy world of Diablo aesthetics this year after the release of Diablo 3 for many years.

The heat keeps rising

With the development of the game industry, more and more game developers are focusing on the mobile field. Mobile communication devices that can open the game experience anytime, anywhere are more in line with the choice of current players, and lightweight gameplay is very popular in the market. On this basis, Blizzard decisively launched its second mobile terminal work, and based on the classic IP "Diablo", it created an upright and innovative work.

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Now, the international server has been online for almost two months. During this time, player reviews for Diablo: Immortal have arguably climbed steadily. Judging from the screen, this game continues the style of Diablo World, and improves the fineness and fluency in visual effects. Players can also feel the thrill of a terminal game on their mobile phones, with high-quality rendering effects. For all to see. In addition, "Diablo: Immortal" also takes special care of the feelings of new and old players and provides a stand-alone gaming experience.

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"Diablo: Immortal" inherits the orthodoxy of Diablo in terms of plot and gameplay, and players can get an excellent experience even without paying. When it comes to payment, then we have to mention the construction of the payment system in "Diablo: Immortal". In order to make the work have a longer vitality, "Diablo: Immortal" has created an interesting trading ecology. Paying players can obtain the resources of zero-paying players through transactions, and zero-paying and micro-paying players can exchange the collected resources for the money of paying players. Equivalent transactions, the old man is innocent, as long as the economic system of this game exists, then there will be no lack of vitality. In this way, players can get the experience they want in the game no matter what kind of gameplay they are in.

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The success or failure of a game is ultimately in the hands of the player. After experiencing a variety of games, it is not easy to gain the unanimous approval of players. The reason why "Diablo: Immortal" is so popular and popular is that it speaks with strength.