A few years ago at the BlizzCon, the game Diablo Immortal was announced. At the time, the game was not well received, being yet another free-to-play game that used loot boxes.
Subsequently, things went quiet around Diablo Immortal and the team went back to the drawing board for part of it and the game was scheduled to come out this year. But not in the Netherlands.
No Diablo Immortal for us
Because the folks at Tweakers have contacted Activision-Blizzard about how things are going with Diablo Immortal. They found out that Diablo Immortal will not be released in the Netherlands and Belgium. Both the version planned for the smartphone and the PC variant will not be available for download here. So when the game comes out on June 2, it will not be for us.
An exact reason why Diablo Immortal will not appear with us has not been given. There is talk about the current operating conditions for games in those countries. Chances are it has to do with the current laws surrounding gaming. In the game there are loot boxes that you can buy with real money. And because of the legislation here, that can be seen as a form of gambling. For example, a lawsuit had previously been filed against Electronic Arts, who were allegedly violating the legislation with their loot boxes in FIFA Ultimate Team. However, the judge decided that this was not the case, so you would expect that other games would not be in trouble.
What will the future bring?
The non-release of a game like Diablo Immortal in the Netherlands and Belgium could therefore have consequences for future games, which also work with lootboxes. But in the short term it is expected that a game like FIFA 23 including the packs you can buy will just appear in our country.