Whether you are a die-hard fan of the Diablo series, really into the mobile gaming scene, or just looking forward for the endless critiques, everyone is awaiting the release of the beleaguered Diablo Immortal. And, as it turns out, you may not need to wait too long. According to developer NetEase's CFO Yang Zhaoxuan, the hack-and-slash mobile game is "pretty much ready" for release and will certainly make it out. The game is currently slated to release in 2019.

News comes by way of publication Bloomberg who attended a conference call for financial analysts with Chinese developer NetEase Inc. Speaking on the issues happened to be NetEase's Chief Financial Officer, Yang Zhaoxuan. On discussing whether they were expecting to be impacted on China's recent moves to delay game launches following industry regulation,

While setting aside the worry regarding the regulation change, Zhaoxuan offered a quick timetable for the launch of Diablo Immortal. According to the NetEase CFO, the game is "pretty much ready" to launch and is set for a 2019 release date. With that said, he was more hesitant to dive into deeper details on when we can expect that release date to be: "As to the exact launch timetable, I would encourage the market to direct their questions directly to Activision Blizzard."

This may be a shocking announcement for a few different reasons. On one hand, Diablo Immortal was revealed in November 2018, so it would appear that the developer has either rushed through the game or has had it mostly developed up to that announcement. On the other end, Activision Blizzard has been experiencing some negative PR blowback, thanks to significant blowback over mass employee layoffs and labor concerns on the pay of Activision Blizzard's CEO, Bobby Kotick. There has been some speculation that all major projects (whether or not you consider Diablo Immortal a "major project") would have release windows impacted.

Diablo Immortal has certainly courted gamer negativity since the game's initial reveal -- thanks to Blizzard's latest embrace of mobile platforms and some significant issues with how they revealed the game. While we have our own qualms about the mobile game, we also think that the title isn't worth ignoring outright.

As mentioned above, Diablo Immortal is due to release in 2019 for mobile platforms, however a specific release date is unknown.