Diablo Immortal was released on mobile phones and PC systems worldwide in June 2022. The game is not available in some regions as it’s against the law. Loot boxes have been a strain for players, and it is for that reason that these two specific countries have blocked the game entirely.
Who can’t play Diablo Immortal due to their laws?
As of the time of writing, we know of two countries that will be blocking Diablo Immortal on PC and mobile storefronts: Belgium and the Netherlands. These two countries have strict loot box laws. Loot box practice is seen as gambling in the eyes of the Belgian and Dutch governments. These laws have been in place since 2018, taking out a key revenue source for EA’s FIFA series and Blizzard’s Overwatch.
“This is related to the current operating environment for games in those countries,” said an Activision spokesperson to Eurogamer. “Accordingly, pre-registration for the game are not accessible in those markets.”
There is a possibility that Activision-Blizzard can remove the loot box systems within Diablo Immortal for these markets so that they can be played within Belgium and the Netherlands officially. However, as the market is relatively small in comparison to the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, the publisher may ignore Belgium and the Netherlands altogether.
So far, we don’t know what the loot box-style mechanics in Diablo Immortal may bring, but as the ARPG is free-to-play on Android, iOS, and PC, it will likely be spotlighted heavily by the publisher as it’s a source of revenue.
For those who can access Diablo Immortal, which is the majority of the world, you’ll need 27GB of free space on your PC and 4GB for the mobile versions, approximately. This will likely grow as Blizzard provides updates to the game.
