Diablo Immortal Controversy Causes Activision Blizzard Stock To Drop Over 7%

Published: November 6, 2018 2:45 PM /

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Warcraft III: Reforged and new content for Blizzard's other hit franchises couldn't hide the fact that investors are disappointed in the Diablo Immortal announcement.

The Diablo Immortal reveal at BlizzCon was more than disappointing for fans, who were expecting something along the lines of Diablo 4 instead of a mobile title outsourced to a Chinese company. Activision Blizzard's stock is taking a blow as a result.

The day of BlizzCon, the stock was $69.34 a share. Since then, it went on a downward spiral and reached as low as $64.14 on Monday, November 5th. That's nearly a 7.5 percent difference.

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This 5 day chart from Nasdaq shows a sharp decline.

Currently, the share is fluctuating and it remains to be seen if this hit will have long-term damage to the company. It is an indicator that investors and customers are concerned with this approach to one of Blizzard's most popular franchises.

GameSpot reports that research firm Cowen & Cowen said the company "severely miscalculated" the fan reaction at BlizzCon, and that "they aren't in touch with their players as maybe they should be."

The trailers for Diablo Immortal are receiving thousands of dislikes. More controversy arose when dislikes and negative comments began to disappear from the cinematic trailer. Re-uploads of the same trailer were met with similar reactions.

Diablo Immortal is a mobile title developed by Chinese mobile game developer NetEase in collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment. It's a bridge between Diablo II and Diablo III, featuring multiplayer gameplay, dungeon crawling, new enemies, and new areas.


Quick Take

To say this is a disaster for Activision Blizzard is an understatement. There is a boycott planned for the mobile game, which might could potentially drop the company's stock further. The recent revelations that Diablo 4 was going to be teased at BlizzCon is just another concerning fact. I would suspect that the stock would not take as severe a hit as it did if Diablo 4 was simply teased if any. Now, only time will tell if Diablo Immortal is the disaster it's looking to be or will exceed the already low expectations for it.

Do you think this stock price decrease will be a permanent hit to the company? Do you think this trend could continue? Let us know in the comments below!

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austin
| Staff Writer

Austin cut his teeth writing various  fan-fiction stories on the RuneScape forums when he was in elementary school. Later on, he developed a deep love for… More about Austin