Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 4 was a major part of the recent Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, revealing the Necromancer class and several gameplay elements. It’s out in 2023 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch with cross-play and cross-progression. However, following the debacle with Diablo Immortal’s monetization, there’s concern over Diablo 4 being more of the same.
Apparently, that won’t be the case though. In response to streamer Gothalion being excited to not have “mobile-style monetization,” global community lead Adam Fletcher said, “Diablo 4 is coming out as a full-price game built strictly for PC/console audiences. The game is huge and there will be tons of content after launch for all players.
“Paid content is built around optional cosmetic items & eventually full expansions. We will be sharing more info soon!” This sounds somewhat akin to what Bungie is doing with Destiny 2, though the degree to which it has segmented content like Dungeons has drawn some ire.
Diablo 4’s approach to monetization is yet to be fully revealed so we’ll need to wait for more details. With Diablo Immortal being the lowest-rated game on Metacritic in terms of user score, one has to wonder if that will affect any plans for the mainline game.