While there are players who have criticized Diablo 4 for its microtransaction system, the monetization of Blizzard’s ARPG is centered around cosmetics. You can purchase skins, mounts, and other visual elements that do not offer additional competitive advantages in gameplay. It serves as an alternative to the Diablo 4 Premium Battle Pass, which also contains similar items as you play with your character.
However, it seems that the former president of Blizzard had a plan to reduce microtransactions in Diablo 4. Mike Ybarra left his position weeks after Microsoft completed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, and that’s when the former executive’s project was forgotten. This is indicated in the final chapter of Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, a book written by the most reliable journalist in the video game industry, Jason Schreier, who uncovers many secrets of Blizzard.
According to reports from PC Gamer, among the plans of the former Blizzard boss was also to “reboot Overwatch“. While details about how he was going to carry out this project are unknown, it seems that Microsoft is not willing to revive Ybarra’s idea. However, it should be noted that the former president was not well-liked by his employees, and the reason is that in mid-2023 he angered many developers by requiring them to work back in the office.
The money Diablo 4 has generated
A month ago, we reported that a Blizzard employee accidentally revealed the massive amount that Diablo 4 has generated. In the LinkedIn profile of Harrison Froeschke, senior product manager, it was mentioned that Blizzard’s ARPG had achieved over $1 billion, with $150 million coming from microtransactions. This data is not surprising, as it should be remembered that in its first month, Blizzard announced that Diablo 4 reached the devilish figure of $666 million. In other related news, yesterday we reported that Blizzard’s plan was to create a Diablo with combat inspired by the Batman Arkham games, but it was canceled 8 years ago due to internal problems.
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