Asmongold claims backlash over Diablo Immortal’s pay-to-win features won’t stop devs from pushing microtransactions in future titles because people will always spend lots on them.
Diablo Immortal was supposed to be the successor to the critically acclaimed series spanning almost 25 years. While it’s not all bad (for mobile players), it’s littered with pay-to-win elements that have soured the experience.
Asmon warned people about this ahead of its release, and now that it’s out, he showcased the full extent of its pay-to-win nature on stream by making a startling comparison between free and paid Elder Rift runs.
However, despite the chorus of criticism, Asmon believes pay-to-win microtransactions are here to stay in the series because people will always be willing to spend a fortune on them, giving devs no reason to change.
“People will spend the money,” he said. “There will be people out there who will spend over $100,000 on Diablo Immortal. This will happen, and those people will fund the next game that will do the exact same thing, and this will continue happening forever.
“There will never be a time where the gamers are going to ‘rise up,’ and they’re going to say, you know what, we don’t want any more of this pay to win sh*t. We want it to be like the good days. It’s never going to happen.”
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For that reason, he believes the developers will continue pushing the envelope. After all, ethical issues aside, it’s working out quite well for them in terms of profit.
“This game design is straight-up evil? Well, it is Diablo!” he joked.
The developers have downplayed the severity of the pay-to-win elements, claiming a team of them was able to thrive in the beta (both in PvE and PvP) without spending a dime. However, the community isn’t convinced.
As it stands, Diablo Immortal has the third-lowest rated user score on Metacritic. While that should be taken with a grain of salt considering the likelihood of a review bomb, it’s still a sign that dissatisfaction is running rampant.
