Diablo III has changed a lot over the years, dropping a much-loathed auction house and gaining all sorts of balance overhauls, enemies and entire new areas. Now, however, it could be looking at a change of a very different sort: real money microtransactions and an entire new in-game currency to support them.
Patch 2.2.0, which will soon launch on public test servers, is primarily focused on tweaks to things like Adventure Mode and “quality of life” improvements like a new cosmetics window, but today Blizzard announced another addition: Platinum, a microtransaction-based currency that, for now, will only appear in non-American and European regions. So presumably, Asia. They outlined what this will entail:
- A new currency called “Platinum”
- Timed experience boosts
- New cosmetic items including wings, non-combat pets, and character portraits
- References to stash space and character slot expansions
- A new UI interface that references the above information
However, they added (both on the American page and in a separate, similar post for the European region):
“We recognise that many players have expressed an interest in microtransactions being added to Diablo III. While we may explore this model in some regions, we have no immediate plans to implement such purchases anytime soon for the Americas region.”
Personally, I like that Blizzard has been so dedicated to fixing and expanding Diablo III over the years — and I understand that doing so costs money — but even considering microtransactions at this stage feels like a pretty big shake-up. If nothing else, it sounds like they’re aiming more for cosmetics and boosts than they are loot and glittering prizes (thus sidestepping the issues the old real money auction house dredged up), but still. Fingers crossed that the game keeps being, you know, good in spite of this.
What do you think of the idea of possibly augmenting your Scrooge McDuck-esque piles of gold with fat stacks of real-life cash? Are you glad that, at least for the moment, Blizzard is only testing this in non-American and European regions?
Comments
10 responses to “Blizzard Testing Diablo III Microtransactions, But Only In Asia”
Really? What players are requesting microtransactions in a full priced game? Has marketing been trolling the forums disguised as part of the player base?
I think players requested content… Blizz just assumes that we want to pay for that content.
Seeing as it’s only being introduced in the Asian areas, it makes sense. They are a lot more into micro-transactions than Western cultures, especially when it comes to vanity items and boosts.
You’d be surprised. On the warcraft forums peoplehave been asking for old unobtainable armour to be available to buy from the online store. :/
“Hey Blizzard, I bought your game for full price -collectors edition no less!- but I still have all this money around. I tried to buy more stuff for the game but you guys dont offer anything! What’s the deal? How am I supposed to give you this money??”
Honestly, I wouldn’t be too miffed if those came into non-Asia area.
take out the xp and stash stuff and i’d agree – that way its purely cosmetic shite. The xp boost and stash could be gold dumps or some drops in grifts after lvl 25 – i dunno anything but paid for.
Oh of course. New UI would be a nice little DLC
As long as they don’t reduce the likelihood of rare items dropping and make people buy these items then it’s all good. I don’t mind if they charge for cosmetics item or effects etc
Interesting, I remember reading somewhere they were looking at introducing microtransaction purchasable XP pots for WoW in Asia also. Why do they start there?