Now that we, the player community, have collectively spent $49 Million on Diablo Immortal in 30 days…we are pretty much stuck with type of monetization.
Blizzard has been reporting that the WoW in-store purchases have been growing quarter to quarter for years now, but this is showing that players are more than willing to throw money at them.
Also, the $49 Million is based solely on the mobile stores and doesnt include PC so it probably much worse than it seems.
In the end, I doubt Blizz really cares how badly their metacritic reviews gets bombed for D:I, Shadow Lands, or Dragon Flight if everyone is just going to keep throwing cash at them
I mean I told people Activision and Bobby Kotick have done nothing but increase profits for Blizzard IPs, they will be here to forever stay and we should be grateful about it as they keep these games alive.
I cant link articles anymore, but I guess it made 4 x as much as Apex Legends in its first month but its pretty far behind Genshin Impact, probably because no China release
I’m not understanding. You told us less than a month ago that you were playing Diablo Immortal. That the microtransaction design was inobtrusive, and it was not necessary to pay real money to reach end game, have fun, and win.
In any case, there is probably little overlap between the WoW playerbase and that of DI. Its online presence is dropping as streamers stop playing, players stop watching, even guidemakers have decided to pull the plug on it.
Will whales continue to play a game where there is no plankton to consume?
OP,
Sadly you are probably correct… well, until the parents/spouses of all these people get a high enough credit card bill that they notice all the microtransactions on it.
Sad to say that this is where this will end up. But since Microsoft is buying the company out sometime in the near future, the current leaders of this company probably don’t care. They are getting all the microtransactions they can before that happens.
Diablo Immoral doesn’t change anything. Microtransactions have been here to stay for many years now for mobile games and PC games without subscription fees
Also there are less predatory mobile games out there making FAR more money then Diablo Immoral, so it’s not like Blizzard threw away their reputation in order to achieve some sort of major moneymaker. At this rate it won’t even be the most profitable Activision game, that would be Candy Crush by a mile
They should care though, because they could raked in far more money if they had balanced the microtransactions better. Making the game obscenely pay-to-win and broadly unpopular badly hurts their profits.
The mobile game whales are going to still spend huge money even if it only gives a minor power increase, and the average players would be collectively spending far more if the microtransactions were better balanced. So in the end it is really hurting Blizzard’s profits.
$49 million per month sounds like a lot but it really isn’t that much money when you consider that Apple/Google skims 30% of that cash, and that number is boosted by being a brand new game. World of Warcraft is probably much more profitable than that, each subscriber gives $15/month + $50/expansion + all the various transaction fees for tokens, server/faction transfers, cosmetic shop purchases, etc.
Right now Diablo Immoral is not doing well at all, and everything hinges entirely on how it does in China
I am pretty sure their bean counters are bright enough to figure out how to make the most money. If it would make more money they would be doing whatever it is you think they should be doing. Reality is the game is making tons more money now than it did even at its peak of 12 million subscribers.
The kicker is they keep on going about a “free” mobile game. This is the model for “free” games.
Want to play them for free you can. will you be the “best” (as if that matters in mobile gaming unless a streamer)? No.
Will for some will you hit the oh…coma back in 4 hours reset? Yes.
If not an issue…then don’t give money. Or play lol. Hard concept to some apparently.
like me…I got wh40K Inquisitor the whole big shenbang (all DLC) on steam sale. Like $20? many hours of enjoyment to come there. new season start even. No pressure even to even buy the store credit. I go to tokyo disney next week. I lose a week to the tyr hards. all good. Made a seasonal char since…why the hell not. she finishes where she finishes.
Its wh40k…check. Its ARPG…check. its got the assassin class in leather/latex looking outfits…3 checks.
Played it on free plays in xbox…much better on pc (what isn’t, I know). $20 will get many hours. Why I as consumer…I make that personal choice not to do most mobile gaming.
NOw…I ahve done mobile gaming. I got the Xcom 2’s 2k put out for my ipad years back. A very nice port imo. NOt a “traditiional” mobile game. you paid upfront for it.
so here is the safe way to pick a mobile game.
Does it charge $20 up front vice nickel and diming you?
Well good chance its going to be decent game. In this case it was xcom mobile. In all its annoying missing at 95% to hit, point blank with a shotgun glory. I signed up for that. it is the authentic X com experience really.
I was talking about Diablo Immoral, seems like you are referring to WoW.
WoW’s microtransactions are balanced VERY well to provide a bunch of profit without being intrusive, pay-to-win, or particularly unpopular with players. Diablo Immoral is very much NOT
I can’t really disagree. It’s really a shame because Immortal is actually a really good little game IMHO. I think a lot of people would have enjoyed it if they hadn’t been automatically turned off.
I still play it some, I admit, I just avoid the p2w features. That said, if it had been b2p or even a few dollars a month or something, I think it would be better.
I wished my iron skyreaver jet packs were more than for show lol.
I won’t lie. I’d stack up some boosts. +5 to 15% mount speed. run a dk to stack that one. zoom zoom zoom!!!
but its cosmetic. which is fine. it looks really cool to me. I got 4+ mounts buried in raids I ahve run for over a year. I had no issues springing for the cash on a holiday sale for skyreaver.
I have ridden that mount on years of fail raid mount runs. Being technical…I have spent more to get invincible with sub time. And I still have it gotten it yet.
Have we really started measuring the success of mobile games by streamer numbers? Seems a little silly to me, but whatever.
I still stand by my statements from a month ago…which makes all the money players are giving Blizzard that much worse. I am still playing and made it pretty far into the game (H2/P52/CR1382) with only spending $5
I do nothing, nothing at all, and still I’m somehow in the wrong.
The more time passes, the more this happens, the more I’m starting to agree with the perspective of the brute nihilist shackled in the cage of my id.
