Blizzard general manager Rod Fergusson has taken to Twitter to try and address fan concerns about Diablo 4.
One of the big announcements at the Xbox showcase on Sunday night was for Diablo 4, with a trailer announcing a new playable class and a release date of 2023.
Announced back in 2019, the new trailer also revealed a shared world where players can band together to fight bosses, with almost 150 different dungeons to explore.
However, it seems there may be some trepidation from fans, thanks to the release of mobile spin-off Diablo Immortal. So much so that the Diablo boss Rod Fergusson has had to assure them that the game won’t be pay-to-win.
Rod Fergusson, who took over control of the franchise earlier this year, shared a brief message with fans to say that Diablo 4 won’t be free-to-play like Diablo Immortal is and will be sold at a normal retail price.
While he doesn’t rule out some microtransactions, he describes any and all cosmetic items as being optional (so no stat buffs or anything) and that future expansions will be story driven.
Even though he didn’t mention the game by name, this feels like a direct response to the complaints lobbied against Diablo Immortal, which many have argued is pay-to-win.
He also assured fans that Diablo 4 will release for PlayStation and PC platforms as well as Xbox, despite Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard.
‘To be clear, D4 is a full price game built for PC/PS/Xbox audiences. We are committed to delivering an incredible breadth of content after launch, for years to come, anchored around optional cosmetic items & full story driven expansions,’ wrote Fergusson on Twitter.
In response to fan questions, he added that crossplay and cross-progression will be included and, from the sound of it, local co-op will be possible too.
Despite Diablo Immortal’s unpopularity, it’s proven successful so far, with Blizzard claiming it’s had 10 million downloads so far, making it the biggest launch in the series’ history.
However, Blizzard has yet to share how much money the game has made from its microtransactions.
The game’s Metacritic rating tells a different story. The mobile version has a lowly user score of 0.5. The PC version is faring even worse, with a user score of 0.2, making it the worst rated Blizzard game on the site.
Diablo 4 releases in 2023 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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