Blizzard’s Diablo III has only just recently managed to regain the goodwill that Blizzard used to be known for, after its disastrous launch years ago now, but this new development might sour some people on the game again, assuming they never read past the headline- Blizzard is apparently exploring microtransactions for the game.
Now before you get ahead of yourself, calm down. Blizzard’s research into this seems to be not for European or American markets, but rather, for other regions- possibly intended for the game’s long awaited Chinese launch.
Blizzard issued a statement on this on their forums:
“Some new features may start to show up in data-mined information for patch 2.2 that will not apply to all regions. Specifically, the following features will not apply to the European [or American] region:
- 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
“We recognise that many players have expressed an interest in microtransactions being added to Diablo 3. While we may explore this model in some regions, we have no immediate plans to implement such purchases or the aforementioned features anytime soon for the Americas region.”
So, yeah. Chill out, and let’s first see how this goes.