Diablo Immortal: a pay-to-win that asks for 100,000 euros? Blizzard fights back

Blizzard's latest software, Diablo Immortal, was released recently on mobile and PC. Like many mobile applications and other free-to-play games, the software also offers its share of in-app purchases, but the amounts requested create scandal, and rightly so.

THE PRICE OF A HOUSE FOR A POWERFUL CHARACTER

You didn't know what to do with your Cofidis loan? Blizzard offers you to optimize your character for the trifle of 100,000 euros . Maybe less if you're lucky, in which case you can then spend your last rounds in the battle pass or in boosters to have more loot at the end of your dungeons.

Because yes, it's a sad reality, but Diablo Immortal is a chubby pay-to-win . Boosters, loot box… the software includes the complete kit of the inexpensive mobile app , except that this is a huge publisher, and not a dark studio hidden deep in a Malaysian jungle.

In Diablo Immortal therefore, when your character has inflated his level of experience and has a nice equipment, he can become even more powerful by using magic gems, including legendary gems. It's great, except that to get your hands on these, you have to either give a whole life in the farm (and you can't have legendary gems by the way), or pay an astronomical sum, especially since improvement is subject to the laws of chance.

According to your chances then, and according to people paid to calculate this kind of thing , it would take several thousand euros to have a character optimized from A to Z through the store . Up to 102,000 euros for more precise (110,000 dollars, 88,000 pounds). A house in the countryside.

GAMERS' ANGER VS BLIZZARD'S DISASTROUS EXPLANATIONS

Suffice to say that the affair has made a good number of players turn a blind eye and that some have not hesitated to criticize Wyatt Cheng, the game's game designer, since the latter had however declared months earlier that the equipment was not impacted by in-app purchases.

Which is true, except that the famous “winning” gems are not considered equipment , but a kind of bonus, even if the latter end up being embedded in your weapons and armor. Smart and practical to play on words.

Mr Cheng has also been harpooned on the subject. A user has indeed put under his nose a post in which he nevertheless affirmed that there was no paid system to improve his equipment in Diablo Immortal , asking him what had prompted the studio to change the formula. To which Wyatt Cheng responds:

What happened in 4 months? Or are the gems not considered gear? pic.twitter.com/d39rnQadk9

— Zizaran (@Zizaran) June 4, 2022

Needless to say, such explanations did not at all convince the fans who replied by saying that they found this attitude (and these statements) “dishonest and disappointing”. Other messages are far too salty to be posted here, but this clearly shows a real allergy to intrusive microtransactions.

However, in-app purchases pay off big, which proves that there is an audience , and not only for Blizzard, since it doesn't matter the publisher, the manufacturer or the studio, which makes the turnover since several years, these are indeed the microtransactions.

That companies want to make money by offering in-app purchases is one thing, but that in-app purchases are so intrusive is another. However, there is no shortage of examples of success since apps like Fortnite , League of Legends or even Call of Duty and Warzone are a hit and also profitable and yet have no pay-to-win mechanism . Instead, they rely on totally incidental, but quality content, such as account xp boosts to earn rewards and “premium” cosmetics.