Diablo Immortal’s monetization system has been questioned since its very launch, but Blizzard’s debut on mobile devices is already moving millionaire figures: as can be seen in Appmagicthe ARPG has generated $20 million on the AppStore and Google Play Store. Big words, considering that it hasn’t even been on both platforms for a month and we are not taking into account that It is also played on PC.
Meanwhile, the valuation of Diablo Immortal by users on sites like Metacritic continues to decline: at the time of writing these words, it registers scores of 0.3 on PC y 0.4 on iOS out of a maximum of 10. In any case, the opinion of Metacritic users does not seem to have conditioned the income of the game.
Is this a case of Review Boombing? Although it is not the first time that a Blizzard release has been catapulted directly to the bottom of Metacritic, but if we review the score of the Appstore itself, we find that it has 4 and a half stars out of 5. In Google Play Store its score is 4.2 stars out of 5 established through no less than 600 thousand reviews.
A new coup for Blizzard or its next commercial success?
To put it in perspective, the last time we reviewed the data from iGamesNews was last June 8, reflecting that Diablo Immortal had already surpassed the barrier of 10 million dollars generated when not even a week had passed since its launch. A figure that has doubled since then and that already leaves us with several interesting readings:
From the start, it is clear that the launch impact has been slowed down, but that is normal and predictable. Generate an additional 10 million before celebrating the month of its release means that players are not only continuing to play, but continue to invest in the game. At least in the countries where their monetization system passed the legal filter to be able to play.
By way of illustration, and unlike console and PC games, the first two barriers to overcome for mobile games are reaching a large number of downloads that allow the project to be sustained and player loyalty beyond the third day. Only in the Google Play Store, according to data provided by Google itself, Diablo Immortal It has been downloaded in more than five million terminals.
From here it is time to ask something serious: is it possible to play Diablo Immortal without investing real money? That’s the real problem: the Blizzard game hides some limits on obtaining the best objects so that it is not so easy to equip yourself without going through the box.
Diablo Immortal being a success will define the future of Blizzard
Although Diablo IV will not follow the same monetization model as Diablo Immortaleverything seems to indicate that this new model that has been defined as pay-to-win It will end up profitable in the long run. Something that, logically, results in the fact that it is more likely that we will see similar initiatives by Blizzard. Without going any further, Overwatch 2 will bet directly on the free-to-play launch.
Blizzard’s image has been seriously tarnished for too many years. The integration -along with Activision- within Xbox Game Studios is expected to promote that brave and creative company that has fascinated entire generations of gamers to return. That Blizzard that was crowned on PC and whose forays into consoles were always cause for celebration.
In any case, the company’s original plans were to bring all its sagas to mobile phones, and it seems that this is not going to change. Not only is there a Warcraft in the oven, but the proceeds from Diablo Immortal They are already a factor to weigh. Even when they require $110,000 to fully upgrade a character.
