Developers working for Activision Blizzard have already disclosed their plans for Diablo IV. Whether it was the introduction of paid DLC in the 2000s, subscriptions, so-called free-to-play games, or more recently lootboxes, the various ways that publishers make their games profitable have never failed to make a lot of headlines. Lootboxes, in particular, have garnered a lot of attention in recent years. It is important to note that the video game industry is not only relatively new but also continuously undergoing change. The first two Diablo games are based on tried-and-true methods for making money off of video games, but Diablo 3 took things in a new direction by introducing a real-money auction house. Despite the fact that the real-money auction house was plagued with issues, it remained in the game until just before the release of the Reaper of Souls expansion. There is a good chance that Diablo Immortal will also be successful as a mobile game this year.

Diablo 4: Monetization plannedIn order to provide further context, let's review what the development team had to say immediately after the announcement, during the press conference that immediately followed it. The Lead Game Designer, Joe Shely, stated that they intend to sell both the base game and expansions to the game in the future. This might appear to be reassuring at first, especially in light of the current climate, in which some major publishers appear oddly determined to try to wring every last penny of profit out of their fans, despite the fact that it is patently obvious that this will lead to a disaster for the publishers' image as well as their sales. An example of this would be Fallout 76, which would then be followed by Bethesda's premium subscription service Fallout First.

Diablo 4: Price estimateThe price of the base game ought to be somewhere in the range of 59.99 euros and 69 euros. It is important to keep in mind that at the time this article was written, these prices had not even been announced, let alone disclosed. Our only basis for this assumption is the standard procedure followed by the industry as a whole and the track record of Activision Blizzard. It could be thirty to forty euros once every one to two years, or it could be smaller amounts paid on a more consistent basis.

Instead of the Overwatch-style lootboxes that are popular (and reviled) in competitive games, it is more likely that microtransactions will take the form of a conventional online store, complete with its share of portraits, mascots, outfits, and dyes

1. This is in contrast to the practice of using lootboxes in competitive games

2. Even though we're just looking at different assumptions at the moment, the Chinese localization of the Diablo 3 online store might serve as a useful model for this

3. As many of today's most popular video games are designed to function as games as a service, this particular method of generating revenue has become increasingly prevalent in the industry

4. Monster Hunter World with its Iceborne expansion is what we think of as a good example of a game that has adopted this model, and it is a game that is particularly familiar to us

5. This is because we have played it

6. This in no way prevents it from releasing new content on a consistent basis

The precarious financial situation of contemporary gamesThere is a valid argument to be made against bringing monetization systems from free-to-play games like League of Legends into full-priced games that also have paid downloadable content. The fact that Activision Blizzard does not see consistent revenue from players in the Western region is the primary issue that Activision Blizzard has with Diablo 3. Since the removal of the sales floor, the only ways for the company to generate revenue are through the sale of boxed games, the expansion, and the Necromancer downloadable content. Since the original game was released in 2012, the average number of units sold each month must be relatively low at this point. Even so, the online servers are kept up to date, and despite the fact that content patches are only released once every three months or so, it is necessary to keep at least a small development team operational. Both require financial investment, so it should come as no surprise that the developer is looking into ways to ensure that its next game will generate a profit over the course of its lifetime. It's possible that players would be most tolerant of a solution that involved paid microtransactions for cosmetic items.

This is because players wouldn't feel pressured to spend money in order to fully enjoy the game's content or to finish its higher-level challenges. Players could purchase cosmetics in this way. It is also important to note that the base price of games has not increased significantly in a considerable amount of time, despite the fact that the costs of development have skyrocketed. The major game publishers have not yet dared to directly raise the prices of their products out of fear of the reaction of the general public, whose income has also been relatively stable (on average) for the past few years. With all due respect to Bethesda, it is obvious that a monthly subscription is not going to be an option for a game of this nature in the year 2020.

Microtransactions in the cosmetic industry: pro or con? Again, in comparison to the most exploitative practices in the industry, purely cosmetic microtransactions appear to be an acceptable sacrifice in the eyes of many, for reasons that have already been discussed in the section that is primarily devoted to the subject of funding. However, this is not necessarily the viewpoint held by all individuals. In a different set of circumstances, they would have awarded players with rewards for carrying out significant in-game deeds. This practice may also influence the studio in the overall game design that it creates, as well as the aesthetics of the items that will be available in Diablo IV. In spite of the fact that this fact is never brought up in direct conversation, the developers may decide to deny players access to options that they would normally make available to them. For instance, transmogrification or mods on a personal computer, with the goal of convincing users that they need to pay for these things if they want to have a cool appearance in multiplayer. Few gamers would have suspected Blizzard of being capable of such a slippery slope a decade ago; however, the company's many missteps in recent years have significantly damaged their image and credibility in this area.