Activision Blizzard recently held an earnings call. During this call, the COO Daniel Alegre stated that Diablo Immortal "is on track for global release later this year," which is the first time Blizzard has mentioned an actual release date for the game. Up until this call, all we knew is that the title had entered into its second alpha, which I took for a spin and came away reasonably impressed. So it's looking like Diablo Immortal could be released soon, and after such a long wait (it was announced in 2018), I'm sure there are a few Diablo fans out there that are eager to get their hands on the game.

Above, you can watch my hour-long gameplay video of Diablo Immortal's second alpha so that you can get a feel for what to expect from the game. Clearly, it uses many Diablo 3 assets, so it looks similar, though the levels are much smaller, and the gameplay is relatively streamlined with a pathing line that's always there to show you where to go. Still, the gameplay is enjoyable, and while the touch controls take a bit to get used to them, for the most part, you can easily grind your days away slashing and hacking demons.

So now that you have a good idea of what to expect from the game, I'm glad to report that the recent Activision Blizzard earnings call finally revealed that the studio may be planning to launch the game before the year is out. Below you can read the primary snippet from Daniel Alegre that mentions this planned launch window.

The game received very positive feedback during early testing in April. An online viewership of the alpha test was the highest Blizzard has ever seen for a game test, illustrating the community's anticipation for this release. On mobile, after highly successful regional testing last December, Diablo Immortal has just entered its second phase of testing and is on track for global release later this year. We expect Diablo Immortal to broaden Diablo's reach ahead of the launch of Diablo IV on PC and console.

Now, there's no telling if this plan will change, but at least this offers a bit more info about the release than we had before. Of course, if you'd like to read through the entire call, you can, thanks to a full transcript on The Motley Fool.

So there you have it. Thanks to this earnings call, we have a glimpse of the future plans for the game, so if you've been eager to get your hands on Diablo Immortal, it may very well be coming sooner than previously thought.