Why it matters: Blizzard and smartphones are two words that most people don't want to see together right now, but the company isn't shying away from the platform---despite Diablo Immortal's reception. In addition to the mobile title it announced at the recent Blizzcon event, the company is working on another game for handsets: a Warcraft version of Pokémon Go.
In an article by Kotaku on previous and future Diablo titles, it's revealed that quite a few Blizzard developers still enjoy playing Pokémon Go, and often battle each other to control the Pokémon gym located in the center of the company's campus.
It's this love of Niantic's AR game that led to one of Blizzard's incubation teams developing a Warcraft version. Another factor that influenced its production is lead designer Cory Stockton. The former lead content designer for World of Warcraft is a huge fan of Pokémon Go.
Rather than being a direct copy of Pokémon Go that simply replaces the characters with those from WoW, those who have played the Warcraft mobile game say it offers a lot more than Pokémon Go, including some single-player mechanics. There aren't any other details about the game, but it does sound interesting.
While it doesn't make the news as much as it did during the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go continues to bring in a fortune--- $73 million in revenue during October, up 67 percent compared to last year.
Despite reports that it's pretty good, Blizzard was lambasted by fans when the only Diablo title it revealed at BlizzCon was Diablo Immortal.
"The reaction inside the company to Immortal is very different than the reaction outside the company," said Kotaku's source. "Part of the thinking on a lot of these is, people want to work on smaller projects. Smaller projects in mobile tend to make sense."
For those who wouldn't touch a mobile game with a pole, there's always Warcraft 3: Reforged to look forward to.