Blizzard challenges criticism of Diablo Immortal microtransactions, says “vast majority” of players aren’t spending money

In an interview with the LA Times, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra discussed the monetization of Diablo Immortal and the criticism it has faced.

Since its release, many players and Diablo fans have voiced distaste over the number of microtransactions along with the cost of fully upgrading a character leaving many to compare Diablo Immortal to a pay-to-win mobile title.

The game itself reportedly skipped release in the Netherlands and Belgium due to the game’s loot boxes which run afoul of laws against RNGs in both countries.

Ybarra told the paper the studio is aware of the complaints, and that despite this, the game has a high rating and over 110,000 user reviews on Apple’s App Store. Said complaints, according to the studio, aren’t representative of the community as a whole.

“When we think about monetization, at the very highest level it was, ‘How do we give a free Diablo experience to hundreds of millions of people, where they can literally do 99.5% of everything in the game?'” said Ybarra.

“The monetization comes in at the end game. The philosophy was always to lead with great gameplay and make sure that hundreds of millions of people can go through the whole campaign without any costs. From that standpoint, I feel really good about it as an introduction to Diablo.”

Following up with the LA Times, without providing specific numbers, a Blizzard spokesperson stated the majority of Diablo Immortal players aren’t spending any money on the game. The company also claims that 50% of players are new to Blizzard.

Diablo Immortal is available now for iOS, Android, and PC, and if you are just starting the game, check out our guide on the best starting class for solo and PvP. If you are trying to decide which faction to choose, here we give you some pointers on making this important decision.