Diablo 4 - In-Game Shop confirmed

[danutz_plusplus]

The gameplay released during Xbox's show is also nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wQxtv_sAc

Good to hear we're getting it in 2023.

 

[rune_74]

hmmm it only showed xbox and pc for release info.

 

[GothicGothicness]

I wounder if it'll be free-to-play with an in-game shop? Or you first have to pay $70 or whatever and on top of that an in-game shop? the level of greed knows no limit I guess.

On the other hand for the free-to-plays it is also the players fault, paying $70 for a game with tons of gameplay and content??? nope. Spending $700 on silly hats on a silly online game with bad gameplay... sure! I guess it is because a lot of people are brainwashed by commericials, so you think buying silly hats gets you something. But buying an amazing game.... no that is just a game or something. I have never bought anything like in game items or cosmetics and I probably never will.

 

[Silver]

I'm not purchasing this "game" - confirmed!

 

[SveNitoR]

I wounder if it'll be free-to-play with an in-game shop? Or you first have to pay $70 or whatever and on top of that an in-game shop? the level of greed knows no limit I guess.

On the other hand for the free-to-plays it is also the players fault, paying $70 for a game with tons of gameplay and content??? nope. Spending $700 on silly hats on a silly online game with bad gameplay... sure! I guess it is because a lot of people are brainwashed by commericials, so you think buying silly hats gets you something. But buying an amazing game.... no that is just a game or something. I have never bought anything like in game items or cosmetics and I probably never will.

I'm guessing a lot of the people who buy cosmetic items are kids and teenagers. Kids just don't understand money, while teenagers are obsessed with not missing out on stuff or not being part of the in-group.

Among adults I'm guessing it's collector types and people who want to support the devs. Or have a lot of disposable income to spend on silly stuff.

Personally, I wouldn't buy that type of thing.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I'm sort of ok with cosmetics only mtx, which was again confirmed by the GM of the Diablo franchise, but I just hope it's nothing too overwhelming for the content that's already there. And ideally, I also hope there's a path to obtaining that content without paying, even if it does takes grinding or doing some feats of skill or strength.

I'm pretty sold on Diablo 4, and another thing I hope for is that you can control how much of the world is shared with other people. From the little I played of Diablo Immortal, that was the main annoying thing, having players keep drawing my attention.

 

[basharran]

I'm sort of ok with cosmetics only mtx, which was again confirmed by the GM of the Diablo franchise, but I just hope it's nothing too overwhelming for the content that's already there. And ideally, I also hope there's a path to obtaining that content without paying, even if it does takes grinding or doing some feats of skill or strength.

I'm pretty sold on Diablo 4, and another thing I hope for is that you can control how much of the world is shared with other people. From the little I played of Diablo Immortal, that was the main annoying thing, having players keep drawing my attention.

If it is the same as the current shop in Diablo 3 it won't be a problem for me. But the sad part is that they will make it more like Immortal if they think could get away with it.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

If it is the same as the current shop in Diablo 3 it won't be a problem for me. But the sad part is that they will make it more like Immortal if they think could get away with it.

And I think they know they won't get away with it, especially after the stink that was made on Immortal. But we'll have to wait and see. I hope they're responsible adults and can read the room. Plus, with the new leadership at Microsoft there's even less pressure for them to milk D4 as much as possible, compared to under a pure Activision leadership. But again, we'll see.

 

[bjon045]

Among adults I'm guessing it's collector types and people who want to support the devs. Or have a lot of disposable income to spend on silly stuff.

Unfortunately it is often people who don't have a lot of disposable income. It is people with poor financial knowledge i.e. they have no idea or means to track their spending. Often they don't know how much they have spent! They also often have no concept how how much it is actually "should" cost. They may thing that a bunch of cosmetic items takes as long to build as an entire location/dungeon.

Like what GG said. The fact that you pay $70 dollars and then have to stump up even more for cosmetics is insane. That stuff should be free DLC. The only way the suits will ever understand if you don't pay the $70.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Like what GG said. The fact that you pay $70 dollars and then have to stump up even more for cosmetics is insane. That stuff should be free DLC. The only way the suits will ever understand if you don't pay the $70.

While I agree with the sentiment, it seems that just selling the base game and expansions leads to them not supporting the game longer term. With a base game and expansions model, I imagine the longer time passes, the fewer people will keep buying and supporting it. Until you're left with only the hardcore fans, as a majority of the players.

And all of this is not to say that they couldn't keep that up, and at least be on the positive with regards to profitability. They likely could. But given the shitty economic system we've setup, where each company needs to not only be profitable, but be endlessly profitable, they need a recurring revenue model, otherwise they'll just abandon the game.

And having cosmetics mtx is the least evil way to do it. The other way would be to pay a small monthly subscription for Diablo. But I'd rather not do that. So, a cosmetics mtx system with story/class expansions sounds to me, like the best we can get, given the circumstances. Maybe we could get better if you can find a way to mobilize the whole community to boycott, until we fully get what we want; but there's no way that's gonna happen.

 

[Kos]

It's the normal human pulsion than those guys exploit, peer pressure and social recognition.
People fought duels because someone seen as a lesser person entered a room first.
It's real, works very well and you cannot understand why it is so important if you are not part of the group.

More you perceive yourself socially 'weak' compared to the group you are part of and more you are drawn to try to compensate.
Children, teens and people insecure or weakened in real life are the main targets of those mechanisms.

What makes it more nasty and vicious is it's assumed to work like this. It never was a happy surprise for those companies. They really hit on that.
NFT with the supposed 'rarity' status are for example the last creation predating on this.

 

[basharran]

The problem is not that these companies need to make a healthy margin (as is expected) but a perverse high margin for the shareholders. We as a consumer forget in most cases that we are not the customer of these companies.

I agree with danutz, we'll see what happens.

 

[largh]

If the game will come to the Game Pass, you can play it for 10 $ a month without having to pay 70 $, no? Perhaps they'll have some in-game shop purchases but the majority of us can ignore those (fingers crossed). That doesn't sound too evil to me…

Add Starfield and this game pass thing starts to sound like a really good deal unless they'll increase the price.

 

[SveNitoR]

Unfortunately it is often people who don't have a lot of disposable income. It is people with poor financial knowledge i.e. they have no idea or means to track their spending. Often they don't know how much they have spent! They also often have no concept how how much it is actually "should" cost. They may thing that a bunch of cosmetic items takes as long to build as an entire location/dungeon.

Like what GG said. The fact that you pay $70 dollars and then have to stump up even more for cosmetics is insane. That stuff should be free DLC. The only way the suits will ever understand if you don't pay the $70.

I agree. The vulnerable often fall prey to this.

 

[SveNitoR]

It's the normal human pulsion than those guys exploit, peer pressure and social recognition.
People fought duels because someone seen as a lesser person entered a room first.
It's real, works very well and you cannot understand why it is so important if you are not part of the group.

More you perceive yourself socially 'weak' compared to the group you are part of and more you are drawn to try to compensate.
Children, teens and people insecure or weakened in real life are the main targets of those mechanisms.

What makes it more nasty and vicious is it's assumed to work like this. It never was a happy surprise for those companies. They really hit on that.
NFT with the supposed 'rarity' status are for example the last creation predating on this.

I read a study where they looked at customer behavior in clothes stores depending on the assumed status of the staff in the store.

If the shopper saw the staff as having higher social status, the shopper would buy more. So I think your observation is likely to be at least a part of why people spend more than they like on cosmetic mtx.

 

[bjon045]

While I agree with the sentiment, it seems that just selling the base game and expansions leads to them not supporting the game longer term. With a base game and expansions model, I imagine the longer time passes, the fewer people will keep buying and supporting it. Until you're left with only the hardcore fans, as a majority of the players.

If you have to sell cosmetics to keep the game going then it should probably just die and they should work on the sequel/another game. I say keep making expansions until there is no market for it. Most games can you can release 2-3 before the number of buyers get just too low to warrant it but it depends on the game.

 

[fadedc]

I'd rather not have paid cosmetics, but they are so low on my list of game complaints that I can't see working up the energy to care about them one way or another.

I used to be a big Blizzard fan, but my faith in them has dropped dramatically. I will still almost certainly buy D4 though, I'll just keep my expectations in check.

 

[Drithius]

Path of Exile has been entirely free for 10 years now, supported predominantly by high rollers buying cosmetic packs. I have over 2,000 hours in it and have likely spent under $100 when all is considered (the majority of that to gladly give back a little for the fun I've had).

In other words, if done right, a cosmetic shop to support a game's development is one of the best ways to support a game long-term. Your initial purchase is not going to support continued development; it's there to recoup already-incurred costs.

 

[Heckle]

Tough day for this Diablo fan. Not only do we get confirmation that there will be a game store on a full-priced game (which may not be surprising but is still disappointing) but they also confirmed that no version of my favorite class (paladin/crusader) will be in the game at launch. There goes quite a bit of my excitement for this title.