Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Topics: Diablo, Mobile Games, Activision Blizzard, PC
A few short days ago, we finally saw the free-to-play Diablo title, Diablo Immortal, release on mobile and PC, and it’s safe to say that it’s been off to a pretty rough start. I mean, right before launch, it was revealed that it had been pulled altogether from a couple of European countries, and things can’t really get much worse than not being able to come out in the first place.
This is all thanks to loot box laws. In a statement, last week, Activision Blizzard told Eurogamer that the game wouldn’t release in Belgium or the Netherlands due to “the current operating environment for games in those countries”. Now, we’re already starting to see the impact of those loot box mechanics in the countries where it did actually come out, and it’s really not good.
Take a look at the gameplay trailer for Diablo Immortal right here.
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As reported by GameRant, YouTube channel Bellular News calculated that to fully upgrade a character in the game, players would, in theory, have to spend a whopping £88,000 (or $110,000) on in-game currency. Diablo Immortal has three ways to enhance your characters - as well as your XP and equipment levels, we have the fabled Legendary Gems. We all love a good gem in mobile titles, right? Wrong, because this is where everything starts to fall down.
Getting your hands on Legendary Gems is ridiculously difficult - as Eurogamer writes, earning them is totally random, and very rare. Worst of all, reportedly, top-rated gems are only available via pay-to-win options, ruling free-to-play players out of the equation altogether. As for those pay-to-win options, well, there’s not even a guarantee that you’ll get what you want - the gems can’t be bought outright, and can only be acquired via random drops from Legendary Chests (which are, in all but name, loot boxes).
Obviously, this isn’t good news for anyone. Whether or not the Legendary Gem drop rates will be altered at all in any future updates remains to be seen.