Diablo Immortal Reportedly Made $525 million in First Year | MMORPG.com

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Diablo Immortal Reportedly Made $525 million in First Year | MMORPG.com

There are some new estimates claiming that Diablo Immortal, which is currently marking its first anniversary with events and new features, raked in over $525 million over its first year. 

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Eldrach

So the Chinese are desperate for anything Diablo and people in the Us…well

We Europeans are cheap bastards, but it does feel good to rebrand «cheap as b***es» to «smarter» now and then

Wargfoot

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

flynn444

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.

Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

Nanfoodle

Thats the problem, mobile games make billions and billions over a few years and a game like GW2 takes 11 years to make 600 million. At this point you have to love your player base and the platform to chose to make PC games.

Angrakhan

Well, D4 eclipsed Immortal's year one sales in week one, just to put D4's success in perspective. I guess all the people trash talking about how D4 is terrible and would flop can take a big gulp of STFU. You were all comically wrong. Maybe you need a new armchair to sit in for your predictions? I should probably feel bad about the blatant troll except for all the multi-paragraph tldr; diatribes that went on and on about how bad D4 is, and then you'd guys would quote each other and pile on. Oh well, enjoy being over a half BILLION dollars wrong. Good thing Blizzard didn't hire you guys as consultants!

Nanfoodle

I do find it odd some of these younger generations are just fine paying wads of cash over items 20 years ago we used to get for free. Only thing we used to pay for was new content and new stories.

Uwakionna

Angrakhan said:

Well, D4 eclipsed Immortal's year one sales in week one, just to put D4's success in perspective. I guess all the people trash talking about how D4 is terrible and would flop can take a big gulp of STFU. You were all comically wrong. Maybe you need a new armchair to sit in for your predictions? I should probably feel bad about the blatant troll except for all the multi-paragraph tldr; diatribes that went on and on about how bad D4 is, and then you'd guys would quote each other and pile on. Oh well, enjoy being over a half BILLION dollars wrong. Good thing Blizzard didn't hire you guys as consultants!

You really do love this strange narrative of yours, don't you.

What sane person ever thought D4 was going to fail? Pretty sure the most diehard naysayers thought the game could have been a flaming bag of poop and it still would have sold in droves.

Why do you need a boogeyman so badly to attack with D4? Why the need to attack fictional others?

maskedweasel

Nanfoodle said:

I do find it odd some of these younger generations are just fine paying wads of cash over items 20 years ago we used to get for free. Only thing we used to pay for was new content and new stories.

Story of my life. Everything is extra these days. I used to just be able to go to a counter and buy a sandwich and they used to just give me a sandwich. 

Now I go to a counter and buy a sandwich and they want us to tip them for handing the sandwich to me. 

"Oh thank you kind sir, for moving your arms in a circular motion to provide my sustenance, a feat which deserves an extra 10% of my sandwich price." 

It's like that but now with games. 

"These 10 extra skins you created that would have been end game items are now 20 bucks each, oh jeepers instead of playing the game more to get them I get to spend the money instead for instant gratification and stop playing the game sooner, yippeee" 

Cactus_LFRez

Seeing how much money mobile games make regardless of how exploitative the monetization, or how much people claim they aren't going to play it, is gives me an idea.

What if you co-developed 2 MMOs, using the same assets and code ie the same game with a few tweaks, one for mobile one for PC.

Make the mobile version the most exploitative gacha game ever, release it in Asia.
Make the PC version like buy to play or something, release it in NA.

Basically prey upon the mobile market to support a PC MMO with fair monetization.
For a dev team that really cares about making a good MMO but needs money.

Wargfoot

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.

Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

Nanfoodle

maskedweasel said:

Nanfoodle said:

I do find it odd some of these younger generations are just fine paying wads of cash over items 20 years ago we used to get for free. Only thing we used to pay for was new content and new stories.

Story of my life. Everything is extra these days. I used to just be able to go to a counter and buy a sandwich and they used to just give me a sandwich. 

Now I go to a counter and buy a sandwich and they want us to tip them for handing the sandwich to me. 

"Oh thank you kind sir, for moving your arms in a circular motion to provide my sustenance, a feat which deserves an extra 10% of my sandwich price." 

It's like that but now with games. 

"These 10 extra skins you created that would have been end game items are now 20 bucks each, oh jeepers instead of playing the game more to get them I get to spend the money instead for instant gratification and stop playing the game sooner, yippeee" 

I cant tell if you are being sarcastic or not. I liked when games had just one currency, now there is one in game currency you can get by playing and 5 others that require so many hoops that the one you buy with RL money becomes the only real currency. Oooo and that one will get you everything.

Cosmetics I dont mind but cash shop only pots that do everything from make you do more damage, + to crit, + to craft crit, bags that lower item weight, pets that auto combat for you, currency that lets your char use better abilities that do more damage.

The list is way larger then what I have touched on. You spent enough money, you dont even need play. Just check in once in a while and make sure things are topped up.

I remember the hours and hours into beating games like Contra. Memorizing every level and the timing. I was gaming. I am not sure what to call people who "Play" mobile games this way?

Viper482

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.



Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

No, the problem is idiots who spend money on this trash.

flynn444

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.



Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

flynn444

Viper482 said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.





Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

No, the problem is idiots who spend money on this trash.

Allow me to translate: "People who don't like the things I do or agree with me are idiots."

The world must suck for you.

Wargfoot

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.



Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

maskedweasel

Nanfoodle said:

I cant tell if you are being sarcastic or not. 

Honestly I don't even know anymore. 


But yeah mobile games don't require you to memorize very much or have much of a challenge they only require persistence or money. 

flynn444

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.





Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

Never claimed that people predicted Immortal would be a "failure". I said that its success shows its critics were wrong; there are legions of players who are fine with its monetization model. Remember that the next time someone decries "greedy P2W game devs".

Aeander

And mihoyo made more money than the entire Playstation company.

Good games are just fucking doomed.

Kastagir

Heck games cost 70 bucks now. So I'm pretty sure cash shop prices are ok with most gamers today. And you can bet game companies are watching to see how the new pricing goes with games. And if good expansions prices will go up next.

Uwakionna

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.





Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

Never claimed that people predicted Immortal would be a "failure". I said that its success shows its critics were wrong; there are legions of players who are fine with its monetization model. Remember that the next time someone decries "greedy P2W game devs".

I'm not really sure that proves critics wrong, as most critics would point at the "legions of players who are fine with its monetization model" as part of the thing they are criticizing.

Rather, that is reaffirming their criticisms.

Raagnarz

I'd actually be curious to see a 12 month breakdown of that. I guarantee it was heavily front loaded. I'm not saying its not a huge figure and a successful figure. But I guarantee the overwhelming majority of the sales $'s came in the first month or couple months before people realized exactly how predatory it is. I'd say the majority of the western market dropped some money early , played the story, and moved on as soon as they say how blatantly pay to win it was. However the Asian (save for Japan) customers pay to win seems to be the way the majority of them WANT to play games. But the majority of the money still comes from the western market because their populace generally has more money to blow on things than Asia/SE Asian populace has which is why their cash shops feature prices a fraction of what the western market prices are. I'll have to see what they release for revenue numbers next year and I'd expect it will still be highly profitable but half of what they made this year if not less.

flynn444

Uwakionna said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.







Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

Never claimed that people predicted Immortal would be a "failure". I said that its success shows its critics were wrong; there are legions of players who are fine with its monetization model. Remember that the next time someone decries "greedy P2W game devs".

I'm not really sure that proves critics wrong, as most critics would point at the "legions of players who are fine with its monetization model" as part of the thing they are criticizing.

Rather, that is reaffirming their criticisms.

If critics point to a monetization model's success as affirming their criticisms, that's even more a reason to ignore them.

Uwakionna

flynn444 said:

Uwakionna said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.







Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

Never claimed that people predicted Immortal would be a "failure". I said that its success shows its critics were wrong; there are legions of players who are fine with its monetization model. Remember that the next time someone decries "greedy P2W game devs".

I'm not really sure that proves critics wrong, as most critics would point at the "legions of players who are fine with its monetization model" as part of the thing they are criticizing.

Rather, that is reaffirming their criticisms.

If critics point to a monetization model's success as affirming their criticisms, that's even more a reason to ignore them.

The financial success of a system does not stop the potential criticism of the system itself being anti-consumer or flawed in other ways.

flynn444

Uwakionna said:

flynn444 said:

Uwakionna said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

flynn444 said:

Wargfoot said:

So any hope the community would punish the monetization scheme has been buried in a mound of cash?

The "community" has spoken: it's fine with the monetization scheme, as evidenced by the cash it's voluntarily throwing at the game.









Perhaps the problem is with a few malcontents?

I'm not sure where you picked up the 'malcontents' vibe.
I don't see disagreement with a monetization scheme to be much of a big deal.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you weren't around here when Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal and disclosed its monetization. But I can assure you, the reaction on MMORPG.com at least was quite negative.

I'm sure I was quite negative about the monetization scheme (I don't like it); however, it would be a stretch to claim it would impact sales.  Despite my tastes, it is obvious that winning via credit card is actually very popular.

This shouldn't be a surprise as that is the way people win in the rest of life.  People buy a bigger car, bigger boat, bigger whatever and 'win', somehow.  

So I guess I don't equate "don't like it" with "market failure".

Never claimed that people predicted Immortal would be a "failure". I said that its success shows its critics were wrong; there are legions of players who are fine with its monetization model. Remember that the next time someone decries "greedy P2W game devs".

I'm not really sure that proves critics wrong, as most critics would point at the "legions of players who are fine with its monetization model" as part of the thing they are criticizing.

Rather, that is reaffirming their criticisms.

If critics point to a monetization model's success as affirming their criticisms, that's even more a reason to ignore them.

The financial success of a system does not stop the potential criticism of the system itself being anti-consumer or flawed in other ways.

Sure, critics gonna criticize no matter what, but it's difficult to argue that a model is anti-consumer or flawed in other ways when it's successful in the marketplace of consumers.

Uwakionna

How is financial success an inhibitor to arguing a model is anti-consumer or flawed in other ways, when the point of anti-consumer models is to extract as much money as possible from and exploit consumers???

By it's very virtue, the assumption would be an exploitative model is made because it works and draws profit. Companies would not engage in anti-consumer practice if it didn't benefit the company.

That does not suddenly make it ethical or acceptable practice. Nor does people buying into or being suckered into it.