I remember when the game first came out Blizzard were talking about all the potential the game has in the future, and that fan feedback was going to be a large driver. It feels that lasted just under 2 years and now the game has gone into full on maintenance mode.
What happened?
A combination of factors happened.
The main leads of Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions aka the dev team that made D2R) aka Rob Gallerani and Jen Oneal left Blizzard sometime after they had been absorbed and created their own startup game company called Magic Soup Games.
The vast majority of Blizz Albany’s team members were placed on Diablo 4 development and post launch development after D2R was finished with a small handful left to continue some small work on D2R, Gallerani most likely being the driving force behind the updates before he left.
Then of course the Microsoft acquisition leading to many layoffs in January, quite a few of which were remaining members of Vicarious Visions.
Even without these factors D2R would’ve likely entered maintenance mode around this point anyways, it’s not a game that Blizz can monetize outside of ban waves which they haven’t even done for the last few ladders anyways. They’re focusing on Immoral and D4 where they can make the most money.
5M copies sold, $200M gross sales. (very likely more)
game programmer salary - avg 93k/yr
gfx designer salary - avg 54k/yr
Work “officially” started in 2019, so 2 years of time.
I’d estimate they spent about $20M creating D2:R, and an additional $2M to $5M for post release support. (Do all you Pindle runners remember the big server debacle on release were they had to limit game creation?)
D2:R was a cash grab, and it helped draw back in the old retired from Diablo players to the game to further boost the future sales of Diablo 4.
The burning question is, do you really want Blizzard doing anything with this game?
The players from the time of Diablo 2 are aging, they aren’t the core of the gamer player base anymore… The core of the player base are young people. And what do young people want? Fast fast fast gameplay. More items, faster runs, more content… More MORE MOREE!!!
Take Diablo 3 for example, it started out as a slow paced game where good items were difficult to find, then over time, and a whoooole lot of power creep, morphed into a speed demon, items dropping everywhere, button mashing game. I can’t speak for Diablo 4, because I don’t own it… But it’s no secret that it’s not tip-top in the eyes of long time Diablo fans.
If the original game wasn’t already a great game, they wouldn’t have remastered it in the first place… Don’t forget that. D2:R doesn’t need changes outside of Quality of Life, bug fixing and continued character/skill balancing. D2:R doesn’t need new content, because that would allow the Blizzard of new to corrupt the game with their D3/D4ism. If they want to bring new runwords, fine, but make sure they are properly play tested, and aren’t reminiscent of Diablo 3 screenwide nuclear puke bombs like what became of Mosaic.
My friends didn’t even believe i solo self found mempo of twilight, witching hour, echoing fury because they were so rare at the time. Even playing all day would amount to 1-2 legendaries (D3 uniques). At least there were something to hunt for then. After a while they decide to delete all difficulty and slide the drop rate increasing it by a good 20 000%. Making you get bored within a day.
Not that D3 was that impressive when inferno was a thing but atleast it was hard and unforgiving.
Edit: Hell the legendary beam and drop sound was actually rewarding when you rarely found any (although i believe they increased the drop rates slightly that patch if menory serves me well). Now it is just a meme.
Excellent point.
So I guess the question is, outside of D2:R, what other ARPG is there that caters to players of the Diablo 2 Age Bracket? 
I tried LE recently, but it’s zoom zoom and it throws items at you from every direction. My stash after 1 week, was FULL of uniques.
I believe the sad truth is that when it comes to the pay once, play “forever” sales model without in-game monetization, it has been in a slow death spiral for a while now… There’s only so much that can be done differently with any genre be it an ARPG or FPS game before they start feeling like a rehash of older games. And there’s only so long they can support these games, because the cashflow eventually stops because those that are interested in the game will all eventually buy the game.
The only way games can survive long term is to monetize the game to provide a perpetual stream of new content to keep players interested, which is what a lot of newer games are doing.
As far as D2:R, keep in mind we only paid $40 for it in 2021 dollars, which is approximately $22.30 in 2000 dollars. The original game + expansion was $95 dollars in 2000/2001 dollars, which is approximately $170 in 2021 dollars.
So wwhat.
A company supports all of its products with overall profits.
That’s how it’s done. You support the franchise, not just one part of it.
Now if they wanna be lazy and not support a product and blame lack of p0rofits then they can lost the ones that give them money.
The game was sold as one time pay with free online access, period.
I bought D1, D2, D2:LoD, D2R, even tried D4 … I think I have given them enough money for the little support they give in return … some I even bought multiple copies so family could play … It’s not my fault they were stupid enough to pay ol bobby-boy what they paid him …
Don’t talk to me about they aren’t making money
I f they won’t support the games, then they ought not sell it like they do, their fault, not mine. I lived up to my end.
It’s not about how much money they have made from the game, it’s how much money they continue to make from the game… Each game also stands on its own. If they didn’t, then the profits from WoW would easily carry every other Blizzard franchise.
If the expenses for their “level” of continued support outpaces the income the game is still bringing in, then they must downgrade that level of continued support in order to preserve “maintenance mode” support for as long as possible.
This is a publicly traded company we’re talking about… The suits want to make their big bonuses… Shareholders want a return on their investment…
Gotta make that money, man.
Dont take one snippet out of context to try to make your point. It doesnt matter what they continue to make.
One, the franchise makes money so the franchise gets the money.
Two, they sold it that way, I still have the boxes to prove it. If they refuse to support their games then they need NOT sell them in that format.
It’s on them not us. We paid for what they offered.
And, I paids for wow for two years like an idiot. So, they already have my money.
If you can’t accept the truth, that’s your own problem.
And thats exactly where you are, company boy… you cant accept the truth
Keep your head in the sand and stay mad then. Doesn’t bother me.
Nah I just laugh at employees trying to lie and justify laziness … your kind is what ruins games with your blinded theories on what we should pay beyond the agreed to contract.
Chapstick?
It’s apparent that you know little about how businesses work, especially publicly traded ones. I’m not about to sit here and educate you either.
Good day.
It was actually less than 2 years. Microlizard took their best ip and did a cash grab.