Diablo Immortal proves the general public doesn’t care about video games – Reader’s Feature

metro.co.uk:

A reader is concerned at the success of Diablo Immortal and argues that it’s proof ordinary people don’t care about the problems of microtransactions.

I read with interest GC’s extended review of Diablo Immortal this week and was interested to find that beneath the layers of disgusting microtransactions it is actually a good game. I admittedly don’t have much experience of free-to-play mobile games but always assumed they were worthless as games, as my brief time with Clash Of Clans and Fire Emblem Heroes seemed to prove. So to find out that Diablo Immortal could’ve been an actual good game, if it wasn’t for the ridiculous way it’s paid for, is all the more upsetting.

Technically, Diablo Immortal is free-to-play but, as I understand it, you can’t properly level up without gaining special gems which are acquired either by playing the game for an ungodly length of time (apparently it’d take 10 years to fully max your character out) or paying ridiculous amounts of real money.

When the review starts describing the different passes you can buy it almost seems like a joke, with a £4.49 Empowered Battle Pass, a £12.99 Collector’s Empowered Battle Pass, and a monthly £8.99 Boon of Plenty. That’s over £25 for just one of each, for one month. So you’re talking hundreds of pounds for a single year. Despite the fact that Diablo 4 is coming out soon and will cost simply £70 for everything, forever.

To me, and I would imagine most traditional gamers, this is ludicrous and clear proof that buying full price games is cheaper and easier than wasting time or money on free-to-play games. But I’m wrong.

Diablo Immortal has been downloaded 10 million times and if only 1% of players spend large amounts of money on it that’s still 100,000 ‘whales’