When Diablo 4 was announced yesterday (at the time of writing), many of our regular readers rocked up into the comments section to discuss potential microtransactions -- and guess what? They've just been confirmed. During a Twitch stream by Quin69 who got to sit down and play an early build at BlizzCon 2019 -- thanks Skill Up for pointing it out -- the streamer asks about in-game purchases, and is told that you'll be able to buy cosmetic items with real money.
Microtransactions of any kind can impact the structure and flow of a game depending on how they're implemented. Cosmetic microtransactions are widely considered to be the least egregious form of in-game purchases, and a lot of games have them. Blizzard's own Overwatch, for example, lets players buy skins for their favourite characters instead of unlocking them through gameplay.
However, cosmetic microtransactions can walk a very fine line. In a title that you're already paying full price for -- this will almost certainly be the case with Diablo 4 -- locking the coolest looking skins behind a potential paywall always seems very, very cynical. Just recently, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint did exactly this, and the backlash was fierce.
Blizzard has said that Diablo 4 won't be out for a long time yet -- we could be talking years -- so we might see the developer change its stance if fans call out its plans for in-game purchases. Oh, and as you'd perhaps expect of Diablo, paid expansions will be coming post-launch.
What do you make of this? Let your voice be heard in the comments section below.
[source twitch.tv, via twitter.com]
Comments 32
I bet Hong Kong is going to love them.
Wasn't EVERYTHING a microtransaction in Breakpoint, not just cosmetics?
Fine with me. I hope they support it the whole next gen. I would rather that then two different games to be honest.
As long as there aren’t game-impacting MTX, that’s fine. Hopefully they’re all unlockable via gameplay too, like Overwatch.
Not sure why this is even a thing (being surprised) If it isnt 1st party Sony expect predatory and P2W MTs. It's just that simple. They are ALL doing it. Or rather it would take less time to acknowledge those who dont
Great, won't buy the game then.
Cosmetic mtxs are kind of bearable, as long as you can get a lot of them by playing too. If this helps getting a constant stream of content I am fine. Hope that's all.... No xp boosters or other BS like that.
Also it seems there will be only 3 heroes to choose at the beginning, I hope they won't add more at that ludicrous price like they did with D3 (wasn't the necromancer like 20 bucks at launch? That s insane)
@nessisonett probably but the grind will be so long and hard that those MTX's will start looking real tempting to a lot of people
Diablo with micros = totally pointless.
The game is about looting. Not paying for said loot.
A new generation of lazy dungeon crawlers
No buy then. I came for the loot. And 🆈🅾🆄 ask more [̲̅$̲̅̅̅( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)$̲̅] for it? ( ﾟДﾟ)＜!! I will take my business elsewhere. Or make it free to play with that I am fine
This is ridiculous. Also you could see that the gameplay trailers were slapped together for Blizzcon. It's essentially just a reskinned D3. Wow.
Cosmetic MTX aren't acceptable anymore. It still compromises game design (they want you to buy them after all) it preys on peer pressure because it separates the haves and have nots.
@BarefootBowser Im playing that little gem as we chat lol. And i very much agree we shouldnt become complacent. However, Ive found myself wholly removed from the companies that practice this. It happened very naturally because i didnt really even notice til now lol. EA, 2K, Ubi, Acti etc. Havent seen much $$$ from me in years. The birth of season pass ruined a lot of franchises for me. No games (well very few) are worth 100+$$ to tell the entire story imo
Don’t really care about that to be honest, was hoping it wouldn’t be out in “years” though and more a case of.. next year, you know.
Path of Exile does the whole cosmetic microtransaction thing and it works there - of course you have to reconcile buying a full price game that includes them for D4, and if you can’t do that then fair enough. But it just doesn’t bother me. I just hope it has that same glassy rhythm to the feel of the gameplay D3 had.
Instead of working on implementing micro transactions, why don’t they work on more playable classes for the base game instead of just having three?
@themcnoisy cosmetics aren't necessarily loot though.
Path of exile prices are outrageous. For a cosmic cat pet that just floats around...20 bucks. If the prices aren't predatory.... then I can live with cosmetic transactions. But must be some caveats. Mist be ways to earn at least some in game if not all. But nothing wrong with having exclusive paid for like holiday themed stuff.
I don't have problems with paid expansion, but mtx? I'm sure all the cool cosmetics will be put behind mtx
So the loot system will be totally screwed up because the best items will be behind this paywall. They didn't even learn from the aftermath of when D3 launched and it's Market House of crap which they for rid of of and released Loot 2.0 which fixed everything that was wrong with it.
Now they brining it all back for 4 they surely are a joke
@Nakatomi_Uk Where did you read "the best items" ? It's cosmetic stuff.
Cosmetics doesn't seem so bad. In the end it's all about the $. If it's not out in years no sense worrying about it now.
Can't wait for all the articles and YouTube think pieces written about them.
Pass. It's always cosmetics at first, then when the reviews are out, it becomes gameplay changing microtransactions.
Even cosmetics are out of order, one of the things I liked about Spiderman was unlocking the suits through gameplay, which in turn made the game more rewarding to play. So yes they do affect gameplay and your enjoyment of it
@Bliquid It's because they were able to get rid of the old Blizzard employees like Chris Metzan, Mike Morheim and the other founders. Once they left Blizzard had just gone down hill.
Ah hell, here we go again.
@themcnoisy this is what I don’t understand where people say cosmetics mtx are fine because in a looter that’s basically puts the whole point of the game behind a pay wall, sure you MAY be able to unlock through game play but il bet you the grind will be totally unnecessary just to try and get people frustrated enough to buy them. So this game is now a no from me.
Isn’t Diablo all about loot? So the just cosmetic is rubbish. Seriously these companies just can’t stop themselves.
good luck, here is where i get off the diablo train, i just had enough of their 10 years of never finishing diablo3. diablo3 took so long that there have been many diablo clones done, that have already done things better than diablo4 ever will. they put everything aside because of wow and now its just to late. its clear now that diablo4 is diablo3 but as a live service and with microtransactions to hell and back.
It sux that most developers are doing this now. I like cosmetics in games but I also usually won't pay more than $2 for one.
Cosmetic microtransactions ruin games. Games like Dota get it right. Path of Exile is meh IMO. Sure it’s f2p but I hate games that don’t invest in their art. Like why should I pay thousands of dollars to look cool. I want my progression in game to give me loot I can be proud to show off. Not spend hundreds of dollars to make me look cool. The best rpgs/games of all time never used microtransactions. Corporate greed has ruined so many games. BG2, D1, D2, divinity original sin, Witcher 3 have no microtransactions and they have some of the coolest loot ever found in a game.
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