iOS Games Recap: More Diablo Drama, Destiny Mobile Rumors and The Division Resurgence Revealed

This week there was more drama around Diablo Immortal, rumors of a possible Destiny mobile game, and The Division was confirmed to be coming to iOS.

More! We have new games to play: a surprise new Gwent game, a risque indie darling, and an awesome new Apple Arcade game. Let’s go, shall we?

Diablo’s drama drags on

Phew! Just when we thought things might have quieted down for Blizzard and Diablo Immortal, we get another round of reports to stoke the Angry Gamers again.

First, we learned that the game had earned Blizzard around $49 million in its first month of release, racking up around 10 million downloads along the way.

It’s probably the biggest new mobile game of the year so far, which gave people already angry at how the game monetizes another reason to get grumpy.

Then Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra defended the game’s monetization model in a Interview with the LA Timesstating that players “literally can do 99.5% of everything in the game” for free.

“Monetization happens at the end of the game,” Ybarra explained. “The philosophy has always been to lead with great gameplay and make sure that hundreds of millions of people can go through the whole campaign at no cost. From that perspective, I feel really good as an introduction to Diablo.”

The thing is, he’s right. Diablo Immortal, like most free games, is completely free to play, and the vast majority of players will never pay a dime. Generally speaking, the big spend tends to come from a very small number of players wanting to fully upgrade every character or stay at the top of the leaderboards.

We suggest you try the game for yourself rather than listening to angry guys screaming on the internet.

Is Destiny coming to mobile? Hmmm

Almost every gaming site you can think of reported a rumor suggesting Bungie is working on a Destiny game for mobile this week.

The story was first published on The game station, who says he spotted a reference to a Bungie mobile game on the LinkedIn profile of someone who works at Chinese game maker NetEase. The Game Post then cites a source who confirms that NetEase has been developing a Destiny mobile game with Bungie for two years.

The tenuous nature of the reports means this should all be taken with a grain of salt, but the logic here is actually quite solid. NetEase invested $100 million in Bungie in 2019, so they already have a business relationship. And job postings for positions at Bungie that require experience building mobile games have already been spotted.

NetEase is also a go-to studio for major Western developers bringing their games to mobile – it helped make Diablo Immortal and Dead By Daylight Mobile, for example. You also have PlayStation in the picture, which is acquiring Bungie, and has spoken a number of times about its ambitions in mobile games. All of that considered, Bungie co-developing a Destiny mobile game with NetEase seems legit. It would be almost more surprising if something wasn’t in the works.

The Division goes mobile

Ubisoft has finally confirmed The Division is coming to iOS in the form of Resurgence.

The mobile edition is an open-world shooter-RPG, just like the previous PC and console games, and is set in the same universe but will offer an alternative to the events of those two titles.

The odd bit about the announcement was the lack of detail – the announcement trailer only shows a light gameplay preview, and there’s no release window offered either.

Those who want to play it early can sign up for a closed alpha test though, so it’s definitely in a playable state. With Rainbow Six Mobile also coming in, The Division Resurgence represents half of the four big mobile games that Ubisoft says is in development. The other two will likely be spin-offs from Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, we think.

What to play this week

Surprise! There’s a new Gwent game, the spin-off series set in the world of The Witcher from CD Projekt Red. It was announced and released at the same time this week, and it’s called Rogue Mage.

Much like Gwent-based spin-off Thronebreaker, it takes the card game you may have played in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and builds a single-player game around it. It’s as beautiful and sleek as you’d expect from a CD Projekt Red game, and is super replayable due to its roguelike elements, meaning no two games are the same.

Elsewhere there is a strategic fighter Risky Dungeons, a delightfully quirky game crafted by true indie gaming craftsmanship. Designed by Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh, with art by Marlowe Dobbe and tunes by Chipzel to boot, it’s a dungeon-crawling adventure with plenty of wit and surreal charm.

And if you want something easier to live with, can we humbly suggest the new Apple Arcade game Samorost 3. It’s a beautiful puzzle adventure about a space dwarf that takes place in a series of serene and bizarre settings. Tremendous.

Until next week!

-Neil Long

Thick thocc and clickity clack

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