It’d be an understatement to say that Blizzard’s been in hot water for the past few years. Now, Twitch streamer Quin69 has lambasted Blizzard for their handling of the Diablo 4 Season Pass.
It’s been really hard for Blizzard to get a win lately, with Diablo Immortal being the latest PR disaster for the company. Its pay-to-win monetization got a lot of flak from players worldwide.
Streamer Quin69 proved just how ridiculous Diablo Immortal’s monetization is by putting over 10 grand into the end game loot grind only to still not get what he’s looking for.
Diablo 4 gets a Season Pass
However, Diablo 4 may be different. The 60 dollar price tag on the title will hopefully mean less egregious monetization in comparison to Diablo Immortal’s free-to-play business model.
But, for Quin69, the language used in Diablo IV’s latest quarterly development update isn’t giving him a whole lot of faith in Blizzard.
“What the f*** is this, dude?” just about sums up Quin’s opinion on Blizzard’s language about the Diablo IV Season Pass. He sarcastically mocks Blizzard, saying that we get free content with the 60 dollar purchase price. “Gaming in 2022”, he mocks.
Is there hope for Blizzard yet?
As for where the material he’s reading is from, it’s in a massive Diablo IV development update released on August 18, 2022.
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It was revealed in this update that Diablo IV will have a cosmetic shop alongside battle pass rewards, although it won’t have the same pay-to-win mechanics present in Diablo Immortal. At least, according to Kegan Clark, Diablo IV’s director of product.
Blizzard’s business model here is in-line with battle passes in other games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone. It offers “premium currency” and greater rewards for paying players, while also offering smaller rewards in a designated free path.
It’s fair to expect the Diablo IV Season Pass to look something like this, and it’s a tried-and-true business model for live service games. There’s a free path that provides fairly meager and inconsistent rewards, alongside a premium path that promises greater rewards.
It’s hard to say what Diablo IV’s rewards will be, but, going off of what’s in Blizzard’s development update, these rewards should be mostly cosmetic.
While this is a relief for hardcore Diablo fans, Quin69’s comments point to an industry that has widely accepted the practice of asking for more and more money from their players.