Activision Blizzard and NetEase have cancelled a Diablo Immortal in bringing one of Blizzard's major IPs to mobile platforms, alongside the Blizzard-developed Arclight Rumble.
WoW Dragonflight, by the end of 2022.
While raised over $100 million USD in mobile player spending alone.
This latest news, then, throws doubt over the relationship between the two major companies. NetEase, which is the second-largest gaming company in China, also publishes Blizzard's other games (including World of Warcraft) in the Chinese market. Both Activision Blizzard and NetEase representatives have declined to comment on project Neptune.
Blizzard already has another mobile project based on the Warcraft universe in the pipeline – Warcraft Arclight Rumble, a tower attack mobile RTS game which bears close resemblance to popular Supercell title Clash Royale. However, another recent Bloomberg report revealed that a second mobile project styled after Pokémon GO was also shuttered at around the time Arclight Rumble was released.
This news comes during the ongoing $70 billion deal that will see no publisher could rival Call of Duty for popularity in the game industry.