![]() ![]() So why are these PC gamers complaining about the very raison d’etre of the mobile gaming business? ![]() ![]() Over the last decade, mobile gaming has taken over the world by storm and mobile gaming’s “free-to-play” (F2P) model means it needs to offer the game for free but make money from getting people to pay for extra stuff. Diablo has always been a PC game, where the idea is that you buy the game for a fair amount of moolah and you play the game to the death at no extra cost. It’s been 10 years since the launch of Diablo 3. Hogwash, I said to myself, as I started downloading the game while holidaying Down Under (Australia, not Hell). Diablo Immortal, the first mobile version of the hit hack-and-slash RPG (role-playing game) series, has been emasculated by many fans and critics who lambast it for failing players because of its unfair “pay to win” (P2W) game design. One Diablo Immortal player used $50,000 worth of WoW gold to beat "cash whales" at their own game.By now, you would have read all the negative reviews about the latest iteration of the Diablo franchise. The closest it gets is committing to "collecting suggestions and feedback for the game" and "sharing more updates in future patches." But for now, it looks like business as usual – and despite the microtransaction backlash, business is booming, with Immortal delivering Diablo's biggest launch ever. Notably absent from Blizzard's post is any acknowledgement of the roiling discourse over the game's monetization, pricing, and drop rates, which was only stoked by new estimates which value a fully maxed-out character at exorbitant prices reaching into the hundreds of thousands.ĭropping mortgage-worthy money on a game is an alien reality to almost everyone, but the mere possibility of such a corner case has understandably raised some questions about Diablo Immortal, and the enormous power gap between free-to-play or low-spending players and those with even moderately deep pockets remains undeniable.īlizzard doesn't address Diablo Immortal's monetization or the response to it in its season 2 post. The rest of the current season 2 patch notes are filled out by balance changes – with Monk and Wizard getting some buffs – and a laundry list of bug fixes. ![]()
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