10 Most Hated Mobile Games From Great Video Game Franchises
Diablo Immortal isn't out yet, and already it's one of the most hated mobile games ever.
In November 2018, Lead Game Designer Wyatt Cheng stepped forward on stage, clad in Diablo merchandise to a rapturous reception from fans at that year’s BlizzCon, raising hopes of a long-awaited sequel to 2012’s Diablo III.
As it turned out, the audience was in for a slightly giddy pitch for a limp sounding multiplayer mobile game. It’s fair to say those in attendance were less than impressed, evidenced by a hostile question and answer session, and general widespread heckling that quickly went viral.
Now, the game is still in development, and tech demos are only just emerging on YouTube, but with the disastrous announcement already so firmly etched into gaming folklore, it would have to be an absolute masterpiece, beyond anything we’ve ever seen on the platform, in order to turn around the lack of goodwill towards the title.
This raises the question: what are some other great gaming franchises that have already fallen foul of the fans by releasing a mobile title that was a not up to the standard of the series, or with an uninspired cash grab to exploit an existing market desperate for a new major release?
Here are the 10 most despised mobile titles from otherwise brilliant lines of games.
10. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is undoubtedly one of the worst games on this list, and may have featured higher if it were from a more highly acclaimed series. The name Harry Potter isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when discussing great gaming franchises, but they actually consistently licensed good titles, including a memorable Game Boy Color release tied to the first movie, and a well regarded sports game in Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, amongst others.
The 2018 release was a first venture into the modern Android and iOS market for Potter, and was met with instant resistance for its slow gameplay and aggressive monetisation in a game largely marketed to children. The game was an uninspired RPG set as a prequel to the Harry Potter series, and delivered very little of what fans were looking for.
Things would improve for the J. K. Rowling series on mobile with the following year’s Wizards Unite, a Pokémon Go style game that players were generally more keen on.