Oh Blizzard, how you have fallen (Diablo Immortal).

[Elim Garak]

DI is very popular in US on iOS devices.

#1 Downloads 1-8 June
#7 Revenue 1-8 June - above Genshin Impact, #1 is Candy Crush

[CaptainV]

DI is very popular in US on iOS devices.

#1 Downloads 1-8 June
#7 Revenue 1-8 June - above Genshin Impact, #1 is Candy Crush

Frankly I dont think its a good thing that its above Genshin, considering Genshin doesnt force you nearly as much into very insidious gameplay boosting practices.

Genshin literally has systems specifically designed to help people progress naturally which may be slow but at least dooable within the span of each patch cycle (usually 2-3 weeks) while Diablo Immortal, launched with progress catchup mechanics, that are so rediculas its unironically hilarious.

Diablo Immortal will also probably die as quickly as it lived, dont expect that "revenue" to last when people finish progressing to 60, have no further drive to progress, and quit the game probably permanently.

[tomten]

Someone linked me a video of a dude called Bellular. It’s really a comic masterpiece, he analyzes EVERY single package available in the shop like it’s the first mtx game he ever saw.

He's a wow personality, and this is the first time it happens to this extent with blizz, so its his "job" as a blizzard streamer to do this, for views, so he can get money.

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tbh countries that ban loot boxes (at least those few in eu, dunno worldwide) didnt "Ban" them really, just if you want to have them ingame you have to reveal a lot of data about it (probabilities, the "random" system behind it etc, not entirely sure what all it have to be), if blizz did that they could have D:I in those countries without doing any changes at all

So if blizzard just says they are gambling and shows how they gamble, the gambling will be allowed?
Do you even think before you talk?

[Popastique]

Frankly I dont think its a good thing that its above Genshin, considering Genshin doesnt force you nearly as much into very insidious gameplay boosting practices.

Genshin literally has systems specifically designed to help people progress naturally which may be slow but at least dooable within the span of each patch cycle (usually 2-3 weeks) while Diablo Immortal, launched with progress catchup mechanics, that are so rediculas its unironically hilarious.

Diablo Immortal will also probably die as quickly as it lived, dont expect that "revenue" to last when people finish progressing to 60, have no further drive to progress, and quit the game probably permanently.

Well that depends on the amount of support from the devs, and quality of seasonal content/events. We'll see in 2-3 months how it plays out.

[Elim Garak]

Frankly I dont think its a good thing that its above Genshin, considering Genshin doesnt force you nearly as much into very insidious gameplay boosting practices.

Genshin literally has systems specifically designed to help people progress naturally which may be slow but at least dooable within the span of each patch cycle (usually 2-3 weeks) while Diablo Immortal, launched with progress catchup mechanics, that are so rediculas its unironically hilarious.

Diablo Immortal will also probably die as quickly as it lived, dont expect that "revenue" to last when people finish progressing to 60, have no further drive to progress, and quit the game probably permanently.

Diablo Immortals will be fighting for the top spot with another Acti-Blizzard-Soon-Microsoft game - Candy Crush.

It's topping the download charts despite requiring 11GB to download and install. People don't allocate that much of storage room for a looksie. That's a long term commitment. And they pay. You don't pay if you don't plan to play.

[Jerot]

Of course people are going to try Diablo mobile if it's free to download, there's genuine interest, as well as name recognition from the whole "don't you have phones" meme. Even people with no intention of sticking around are downloading it to see how it is. Especially with the explosion of news coverage, bad PR or not, its free advertising.

I highly doubt the revenue growth is sustainable, it's being fed by streamers spending thousands on launch week content. There aren't many sources of recurrent sales other than the battle pass. People will blow their load on crests once and realize how little value there is to it for how much it costs. Unless things are restructured, there is no reason to believe this is anything other than a flash in the pan.

Games like this need quarterly update cycles with new content, how many Blizzard games have done that, if any? Maybe NetEase will save them in that regard, maybe Blizzards design philosophy will be the anchor that slows it down, only time will tell. One company was saying they were ready to release this game 3 years ago, the other held it back.

[Elim Garak]

Of course people are going to try Diablo mobile if it's free to download, there's genuine interest, as well as name recognition from the whole "don't you have phones" meme. Even people with no intention of sticking around are downloading it to see how it is. Especially with the explosion of news coverage, bad PR or not, its free advertising.

I highly doubt the revenue growth is sustainable, it's being fed by streamers spending thousands on launch week content. There aren't many sources of recurrent sales other than the battle pass. People will blow their load on crests once and realize how little value there is to it for how much it costs. Unless things are restructured, there is no reason to believe this is anything other than a flash in the pan.

Games like this need quarterly update cycles with new content, how many Blizzard games have done that, if any? Maybe NetEase will save them in that regard, maybe Blizzards design philosophy will be the anchor that slows it down, only time will tell. One company was saying they were ready to release this game 3 years ago, the other held it back.

Lol. Is Hearthstone a joke to you? Blizzard has a tracking record of successful f2p games. Hearthstone was a hit on release just like DI is now. And hearthstone was also a big download back in the day, like 1G or something. When the optimal size for success was below 100Mb. Sure DI let's you download a smaller package and then downloads the rest in the game but that's just a beauty of the technology. But the first time you go deep in game/UI - you need to download 11GB. That's like in the first 5 minutes of gameplay.

Diablo Immortal is gonna be The Shit for the years to come. Especially thanks to all the hate wagon marketing.

[CaptainV]

Lol. Is Hearthstone a joke to you? Blizzard has a tracking record of successful f2p games. Hearthstone was a hit on release just like DI is now. And hearthstone was also a big download back in the day, like 1G or something. When the optimal size for success was below 100Mb. Sure DI let's you download a smaller package and then downloads the rest in the game but that's just a beauty of the technology. But the first time you go deep in game/UI - you need to download 11GB. That's like in the first 5 minutes of gameplay.

Diablo Immortal is gonna be The Shit for the years to come. Especially thanks to all the hate wagon marketing.

Diablo Immortal definatley wont be, The Shit, just Shit.

Lets be honest, DI is the reason people are working towards actively banning gambling on mobile games, if anything, its more likely because of it, loot box games will be banned Europe Wide, and probably in states of the US aswell.

If you want to call it The Shit, highlighting the worst parts of loot box gambling is absoleutley The Shit and hopefully the best thing that happens to it, getting banned from nearly every market.

[Elim Garak]

Diablo Immortal definatley wont be, The Shit, just Shit.

Lets be honest, DI is the reason people are working towards actively banning gambling on mobile games, if anything, its more likely because of it, loot box games will be banned Europe Wide, and probably in states of the US aswell.

If you want to call it The Shit, highlighting the worst parts of loot box gambling is absoleutley The Shit and hopefully the best thing that happens to it, getting banned from nearly every market.

Keep spreading the word about Diablo Immortal. Gotta keep it at #1 Downloads!

[rhorle]

Quick question: how many legendary crests can you farm up f2p in let's say a week?

It depends. You currently can get one from the battle pass at rank 20. You can buy 2 a month from the hilts trader (one normal and one requires you to be an immortal). Just because it takes longer doesn't mean it can't be done for free. Of course it encourages you to pay because that is how the game makes money.

[Jerot]

Lol. Is Hearthstone a joke to you? Blizzard has a tracking record of successful f2p games.

Hearthstone doesn't take anywhere near the same development resources by comparison, a lot of the art assets existed from the original WoW TCG. New content basically amounts to a couple of people writing card effects and creating simple 2D animations and paintings.

It also has a lot of healthy competition, MTG Arena, YGO Master Duel, Pokemon TCG Online, Legends of Runeterra, Shadowverse, etc.

StarCraft started as a pay title that went F2P after sales dipped, and they have no plans to continue development on expansions for it. Heroes of the Storm is on maintenance mode and hasn't seen new content for ages either.

There hasn't been much on mobile for the hardcore ARPG market that grew up on D2. DI has the advantage of being first to market as a recognizable title for this category, at least as a F2P title.
Titan Quest: Legendary Edition released at $19.99 with zero microtransactions but from a smaller dev team based on an older game. Torchlight Infinite is in beta as a F2P title with no P2W but its also targeting a more casual audience. Path of Exile Mobile will be the real competition, but there is still no word on an official release date.

If it remains anywhere near as popular as it is now, expect the appstores to get flooded by studios looking to cash in on an untapped market. And in this space compared to hearthstone, I just don't see them keeping up. There's no precedent for it.

[xenogear3]

It depends. You currently can get one from the battle pass at rank 20. You can buy 2 a month from the hilts trader (one normal and one requires you to be an immortal). Just because it takes longer doesn't mean it can't be done for free. Of course it encourages you to pay because that is how the game makes money.

That is really bad, even as a gacha game.

[Elim Garak]

Hearthstone doesn't take anywhere near the same development resources by comparison, a lot of the art assets existed from the original WoW TCG. New content basically amounts to a couple of people writing card effects and creating simple 2D animations and paintings.

A lot of DI content is rehashed D3 content. *shrugs*

You literally know nothing about the development side of both games. And yet...

[XDurionX]

This is not Blizzard's fault. This is the fault of all the people who pay for this crap, otherwise this problem wouldn't exist. Blizzard just does what corporations do: earn them the most money. And sadly, this will earn them more than D4.

[Jerot]

A lot of DI content is rehashed D3 content. *shrugs*

They had the game engine from NetEase and assets and systems to draw from D3. And yet it took how many years to develop what we currently have?

They won't be able to copy D3, there is no seasonal reset. They can't just shuffle around some numbers or make a couple of enemies spawn in different places and call it a day. That worked because people were re-rolling in a fresh start environment, leaderboards reset, advantages disappear, old content becomes relevant again.

If you re-roll in DI you lose everything you've already paid for. And you won't be able to catch up, even as a gigawhale/kraken because of the daily/weekly limits on virtually everything.

Once people are burned out on the current dungeons and raids they will need to develop new ones. Unless they develop more gearing systems or new legendaries, gearing will stagnate. Even new classes are only going to appeal to a portion of the playerbase, largely because of the issues mentioned earlier.

That is really bad, even as a gacha game.

You know what's worse? You can spend thousands getting the thing you want (if you're lucky) and the game will delete it if you aren't careful with the auto-fill when upgrading other gear.

You can spend money to start a clan, reach end game and join the shadows to progress, which deletes your clan because it isn't a shadow clan. So you spend money to start one of those, only to get kicked out of the shadows for not participating enough and lose that money too!

[Elim Garak]

They had the game engine from NetEase and assets and systems to draw from D3. And yet it took how many years to develop what we currently have?

Just say that you don't know how and what they are going to do and that you have no reason to suspect the lack of ability in them. It's painful to read your "insights" into game development.

[Jerot]

Just say that you don't know how and what they are going to do and that you have no reason to suspect the lack of ability in them. It's painful to read your "insights" into game development.

Obviously I don't know, no one but Blizzard does. I also don't know why something so obvious needs clarification but okay.

The reason I doubt them is simply my experience with Blizzard games over the years. I have never seen them put out meaningful content at a pace fast enough to support a game like this. Based on my experience in other related ARPGs and mobile games and their various successes and failures.

Just my opinions and observations, you're welcome to disagree.

[rhorle]

If you re-roll in DI you lose everything you've already paid for. And you won't be able to catch up, even as a gigawhale/kraken because of the daily/weekly limits on virtually everything.

They have said that you will be able to class change and keep all progress. It just didn't make it in for launch. A whale will still be able to catch up without because there are very few daily and weekly limits that would impact them. Remember the game has been out for little over a week and people have progressed pretty far already. So they would only be behind on paragon levels. The only thing that would hurt a whale is battle pass progress which is boosted by daily bonuses.

[Elim Garak]

Obviously I don't know, no one but Blizzard does. I also don't know why something so obvious needs clarification but okay.

The reason I doubt them is simply my experience with Blizzard games over the years. I have never seen them put out meaningful content at a pace fast enough to support a game like this. Based on my experience in other related ARPGs and mobile games and their various successes and failures.

Just my opinions and observations, you're welcome to disagree.

Really you doubt a company that supported the biggest MMO for almost 18 years and still keeps going with it?
A stupid mobile game is peanuts compared to that.

Your personal experience is not a valid basis for anything but your personal opinion.

[Alroxas]

There's a very simple explanation: overthinking with maths.

Or it could be a cleverly designed system to force players to buy just a bit more than they need to achieve the objective they want.

For instance, Blizzard could have easily put in a SCALING slider allowing players to buy anywhere from 1 orb to 8000+ orb and compute the price of a formula. Then add a simple bonus system where if you spend X amount, they will "kick in" an extra amount of orbs.

Orbs are not used just for crests. You are so focused on Legendary Gems that you constructed this false narrative that Orb packs are designed around crests and thus must give exactly the amount of orbs to buy 50 because of a bad luck protection that kicks in.

Where did I say that orbs are only used for crests? I don't think that was ever my argument. My argument is that for a player who wants a guaranteed legendary gem (via the pity system) needs 50 crests which isn't easily obtainable in a single transaction of actually currency to item desired. As with many other mobile and F2P games, there's an intermediary currency that you have to purchase which obfuscates the actual cost AND is typically sold in such a way that you either have left over currency or you're short the exact amount needed.

It DOES NOT matter in this case study if Orbs can be used for anything else (i.e. Cosmetics, hilts, etc).

So a player buying two packs and having extra Orbs - is not losing anything. He has his 50+ packs for bad luck protection and orbs to buy other IMPORTANT stuff.

But if he doesn't care about the other stuff? Then he has left over currency. If his goal of buying Orbs is to ONLY get gems (via Legendary Crests) then he's basically screwed.

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idk, im pretty sure most people are not against big tobaco due to cigaretes causing addiction and costing money, its more the cancer, death, the damage it causes to organism not only of the smoker but of bystanders too...
so comparing that to games is one of the worst analogies ive ever seen...

Has there not been cases where people neglect their kids because they've been playing some online game so exclusively? And for gacha games, there is a monetary cost that is also a factor beyond just time invested.

So we're not just looking at mental health but also potentially financial health.

Yes yes, I know others will point out that if an addict knows what tempts him/her then they shouldn't engage in that activity, but as others have pointed out, sometimes folks don't even realize that they are addicts (or can be converted into one) due to the design of said product.