In a year filled with adversity our extraordinary employees were determined to provide connection and joy to our 400 million players around the world. They accomplished this as well as generating record financial results for our shareholders. Under difficult circumstances, but with the same conviction and focus, they will continue to do so in 2021.
- Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard
Blizzard
Now, turning to Blizzard. Blizzard is committed to improving consistent innovation and content delivery for its dedicated players. World of Warcraft had a strong year, with net bookings growing over 40% year-over-year to the highest level in nearly a decade. Fourth quarter net bookings for the franchise grew by a double-digit percentage year-over-year, driven by strong sales of the Shadowlands expansion, subscriber growth and high participation in value-added services.
World of Warcraft reach expanded year-over-year for the sixth consecutive quarter, contributing to overall Blizzard MAUs of 29 million in Q4. The trends for reach and engagement after the launch of Shadowlands are even stronger than the levels we typically see at this stage after an expansion launch. With both the modern and the classic modes continuing to operate at global scale, Blizzard has more opportunity to delight and engage the World of Warcraft community than ever before.
Looking forward, the multiple Warcraft teams have an unwavering commitment to innovation and expansion for reach, engagement and player investment through more new content initiatives across platforms, positioning the franchise for further growth in 2021 and beyond. The Overwatch franchise continues to engage its community with in-game content and to celebrate its players in the Overwatch League, where teams are preparing for the start of the 2021 season in April.
And mobile remains a top priority at Blizzard, both to give existing fans new ways to engage and to allow new players to experience its franchises. Diablo Immortal concluded its first stage of regional testing with very positive player feedback, a lot of excitement about the depth and authenticity of this latest Diablo experience and strong engagement metrics. We look forward to getting the game in the hands of more players in further regional testing, ahead of a launch planned for later this year.
And the Blizzard team is looking forward to channeling the spirit of BlizzCon to engage and celebrate the community once again at BlizzConline on February 19 and 20 where they will share more about the plans for the franchises.
In the Diablo franchise, Diablo Immortal, our upcoming free-to-play mobile title, was extremely well-received during its regional testing and this has set the stage for the franchise to meaningfully expand its global reach. In addition to launching new Diablo content this year, our highly anticipated Diablo IV is on the horizon. As we execute on our Diablo pipeline, we expect the franchise to contribute meaningfully to our reach, engagement and .player investment growth in the coming quarters and years ahead.
In our Warcraft franchise, we intend to deliver more frequent premium content to sustain and expand the World of Warcraft community and we've made multiple mobile free-to-play Warcraft experiences and they're now in advanced development, based on our franchise's beloved IP. This will create opportunities for both existing players and new fans to experience the Warcraft universe in entirely new ways.