Even before the release of Diablo Immortal, the mobile game made negative headlines due to Pay2Win accusations. Now it turns out, it’s all much worse than we thought.
Barely a week has passed since the release of Diablo Immortal and the playerbase is already seething with anger. It seems like the only good job Blizzard is currently doing is successfully dismantling their already tarnished reputation.
Shut up and take my money!
The developers at Blizzard have created a monster, a Pay2Win monster. After the release of the controversial mobile game was postponed several times, fans were finally able to get started on 2 June. The release of the game was accompanied by technical difficulties and loud criticism of its in-game shop. The latest offshoot of the popular Diablo series was said to be nothing less than Pay2Win. But how much money do you really have to invest to stay competitive? The streamer Quin69 is currently putting it to the test and investing money until he receives one of the coveted 5-star jewels in legendary quality – current status: $4,625.86 and no gem.
You want to experience the full extent of Pay2Win in Diablo Immortal live? @quinrex is currently doing real money rifts for $25 per run until he gets a 5 star gem.
Current count: $4.625 and 86 cents… and ZERO 5-star gems. pic.twitter.com/vST9h5Gr7M
– Maurice Weber (@MauriceWeber42) June 6, 2022
Twitch giant and Blizzard critic Asmongold also took a look at the whole thing and invested around $350 in the game on release to show his viewers the difference between Pay2Win and Free2Play. The result is clear: If you want to get hold of one of the coveted gems, you can hardly avoid a visit to the in-game shop. While the actual game is free and leveling is grind-heavy in the old Blizzard manner, but costs you nothing, you can easily get rid of a few hundred euros in the shop within minutes.
Diablo Immortal
P2W vs F2P pic.twitter.com/YSOMDsh3nv
– Zack (@Asmongold) June 6, 2022
Precious little stones
Equipment in Diablo Immortal costs nothing per se, but you can spend a fortune to acquire the coveted gems. Each piece of equipment has a place for one of these gems, which come in five different rarity levels (1 – 5 stars), with levels four and five being the hardest to obtain. The problem is that the gems are needed to significantly improve your equipment and skills. However, the chances of getting one of them in a dungeon run (emblem) are 0.2% and 0.05%, respectively, and thus vanishingly small.
And that’s not all, because your runs in which you can get the legendary 5-star gems are limited to once per month. Those who buy the Battlepass have a few more attempts. To play more often, you have to invest real money. Through the “Pity” system, you get a guaranteed 5-star gem after 50 unsuccessful attempts, but in order to play these 50 attempts, you have to pay around €100.
The YouTube channel Bellular News has played devil’s advocate and calculated how much money you need to spend to equip your hero at the highest level. An unbelievable 100,000 US dollars are needed to reach the maximum for your character in Diablo Immortal. Criticism was understandably not long in coming and Diablo Immortal received a devastating 0.6 user score on (Metacritic). Microtransactions in mobile games are not uncommon and should hardly surprise anyone. However, the extent of this Pay2Win scandal makes even hard-boiled gamers flap their ears.
