Blizzard makes millions off the backs of gamers


Despite its status as an aggressive pay to win and having obtained the worst rating in history, Diablo Immortal is a hit. In a short time, Activision Blizzard has already made a real fortune.

Is Diablo Immortal really immortal? For the moment, the controversies have had no negative effect when we see the first figures. The game brought in millions, tens of millions. It is also one of the greatest successes on Android and iOS mobile devices (smarpthones, tablets) of the publisher.

Diablo Immortal enriches Activision Blizzard

Whatever one may say, Diablo Immortal is currently a successful bet and a huge commercial success for Activision Blizzard. Available since June 2, the game raised over $24 million in microtransactions. Information revealed by the AppMagic tracking site (via Pocketgamer and VGC). It has been downloaded over 8.5 million times. This is the application Blizzard to have generated the most revenue behind the mobile version of Hearthstone.

Despite the undeniable aura of the franchise and the qualities of the soft, the performance surprises after the controversies surrounding its much criticized economic model. And for good reason. To fully improve a character during the endgame, you have to pay a crazy sum: up to more than 100,000 euros. All this because of a system of legendary gems, which allow you to upgrade your Diablo Immortal character, very inaccessible since hidden behind lootboxes. Wyatt Cheng, game designer, had however promised that players should not checkout for equipment. When the remark was made to him, he justified himself by stating that he did not consider the legendary gems as equipment…

The game received the worst rating in Metacritic’s history with a nice 0.2 (now 0.4).

Delay in China

The United States is the territory where Diablo Immortal is the most successful. US users generated 43% of revenue and South Korea 23%. And the others ? Japan 8%, Germany 6%, Canada 3% and the rest of the world 17%. But in the rest of the world, there is not yet China.

The launch was pushed back by Activision Blizzard for “reasons for experience, network and performance optimizations”. As Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad points out, there could be another motive. Diablo Immortal has been banned from Weibo, one of the most important Chinese platforms, for violating laws and regulations.

The title has not finished talking about him for better or for worse.



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