Diablo 4's greed somehow peaks even higher

Good new for fans Bill Cosby's Blizzard. You can now buy a mount for the price of the game. It's optional, like jumping off cliff. So it's fine. Go buy it.

Also recently added, portal give me money nows.

Is shame a concept?

Diablo 4’s Hellish Microtransactions Go From Bad to Worse With $65 Horse Bundle That Costs More Than the Game Itself

Hot on the heels of a backlash against Diablo 4 portal reskins that cost the same as Palworld comes a new microtransaction horror: a horse bundle that costs more than Diablo 4 itself.

This week, Blizzard released the new Vitreous Scourge mount, which can only be bought as part of a $64.99 bundle that throws in 7,000 Platinum. For context, Diablo 4 itself currently costs $41.99, and there is no way to buy the Vitreous Scourge mount outside this bundle.

Here’s what you get from the Vitreous Scourge pack, per Blizzard:

Charge in atop crystal and bone

Manifest crystalline might and traverse Sanctuary with the Vitreous Scourge. The Vitreous Scourge pack includes Crystal and Bone bundle containing the Crystal-clad mount, Crystal and Bone Cage mount armor, two mount trophies, and 7,000 Platinum.

Crystal and Bone: A great many maladies plague the unfortunate inhabitants of Sanctuary. One is a spreading corruption that crystalizes both flesh and bone.

7,000 Platinum can be exchanged to customize your in-game experience with purchasable cosmetic items from the Shop, used to unlock access to the premium Battle Pass, and Battle Pass Tier Skips.

Diablo 4 players are debating the rights and wrongs of this bundle, working out its value given it includes 7,000 Platinum (7,200 Platinum costs $64.97 when bought on its own via the denominations Blizzard provides). If you’re going to buy $65-worth of Platinum anyway, some argue, then the Vitreous Scourge mount is a free add-on. Or, considered another way, the $65 bundle offers $83 of value, if we consider previous Diablo 4 mounts have cost up to $18 each. But the point remains: it is impossible to buy the mount directly, which means this bundle is yet another example of the video game industry, and Blizzard, price anchoring its microtransactions.

It’s worth noting Diablo 4 is a full-price action role-playing game and not free-to-play, and while this horse is purely cosmetic and does not affect gameplay, it joins a long list of controversial microtransactions that have hit the game since its record-breaking launch in June.

Of course, Diablo 4 developer Blizzard is now owned by Microsoft following the company’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year. It was a move that some had thought would usher in a new era for Blizzard, but it got off to a troubling start after Microsoft announced nearly 2,000 staff would be let go from its gaming division, a devastating round of layoffs that have hit Blizzard hard.

Once enough people are willing, devs will price accordingly. What this shows is that gamers are willing to pay such prices.

I wonder what their player count is and if it's taken a nosedive. I'm thinking maybe they figure the people that have left the game are gone for good, and those that remain are there for good, so they can more or less do what they want as far as MTX go.

I played the game at release, spent maybe a month with it. I had my fun but honestly it made me want to go back to Diablo 3 and other Diablo "clones".

Gave it another go with this most recent season, hasn't really improved much. I'll keep an eye out for expansions but honestly a lot of the charm that made Diablo Diablo was gone from Diablo 4.

I never learned much about business or marketing but one rule I remember and took to heart is that an item is worth whatever people will pay for it. Doesn't matter what its value is, its worth* is whatever people will pay for it. Be it a Stanley cup or a Magic The Gathering card or a concert ticket or a fake horse to ride in a video game.

*Might be getting "worth" and "value" mixed up.

It's a good thing BG3 buried Diablo 4's greediness from ever-increasing.

This is the evolution of Oblivion's horse armour. LOL

Gamers did this to to themselves. Especially dumb mobile gamers who showed devs how easily they could be exploited for $$$. Now micro-transactions have spread like the plague.

If they wanna make the ugliest anything and people can't exercise the least bit of self restraint then I say milk those suckers for all they're worth.

If you have $65 to spend on this, maybe try to find some charity to spend it on instead 🤷🏻‍♂️?

Just the kind of monetization that's perfect for gamepass.

But you don't get Horse armor if you donate :/

I agree this is shitty and MS need to step in and stop this BS, but we know they won't.

But in the big scope of things this is just small fry when you have people spending thousands on ships in a game that hasn't been released yet in Star Citizen.

If you are dumb enough to buy this shit then you deserve to be rinsed.... every game has different editions with extra missions,skins and weapons you have to pay extra for.so let's not pretend this shit practices isn't done by everyone

I wouldn't say that. Pretty sure ActiBlizz gets more money from selling a 65 dollar horse than CIG gets from a 20.000 dollar spaceship.

You can just point and laugh at what CIG is doing. What ActiBlizz is doing is just sad and annoying.

Star Citizen is over 600 million dollars (and counting) it raised 104 million last year and no game in sight, backers have been waiting over a decade for the game they paid for, that is far worse than micros, and make no mistake I friggin hate micros.

The problem with that is them spending all that effort on nonsense, instead of building a better game. So in the end, we all get less, and not just the fools.

Thats a lot for something meaningless in a trashgame.

I don't think a gun,sword a mission and some skins are made along side a game,they are taken from it and put behind a pay wall.

That's interesting considering Metashitic is your god (your userpic is a score from that site) and 86 > 82 in Death Stranding a game you keep saying is the most awarded game blah, blah, blah.

So, if Diablo 4 is a trash game, then Death Stranding must be a mega trash game, I can agree with you on that lol.

Fair point 😅.

What an incredible opportunity! I'll take two.

I've especially seen this during COVID when digital goods (people were locked inside) became extremely valuable.

Things like Bitcoin, graphics cards and NFTs suddenly peaked in value.

Now that things have calmed down and we certainly don't live locked in our houses in a digital age, these things have gone down in price again, while NFTs have all but vanished.

What a steal. Such value. Thank you Blizzard.

Last Epoch is launching in two days, for those who are eying Diablo but want an actual good game instead.

Geesh, the animosity to the folks who buy these DLCs is ironic to say the least.

I mean it’s a 65$ coin pack where you get the horse as an added bonus!? Don’t really see the issue here… it’s a good deal for people looking to buy some coins to spend in the shop and the rest of us can just ignore it?

This line right here is what publishers want to hear.

This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody care This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares This is bullshit > Incrementally normalize it > Nobody cares

Le never ending loop. No problem for me, have a very big brain and stopped buying AAA games a while back. Unfortunately cursed with high levels of empathy.

People will buy it though..lol

@uninspiredcup: It's actually cheaper than buying the 7,000 tokens. It's essentially saying "buy the 7K token pack, and get this horse armor for free".

Not sure why anyone would want that. If you paint your armor red, and get the gold and red horse armor from the PVE area, you have armor and horse armor that match - very stylish, and FREE.

@uninspiredcup: meh bought the game but haven’t spend a dime on the cosmetic crap and honestly D4 have WAY bigger problems than overpriced dlc..

Bill Cosby 4 is not fun at all.

@saint-george: Ok. So you're saying that they didn't plan this from the beginning? And if they hadn't decided to put this behind a paywall, that all this content would be in the game already? I'm not sure I can buy that.

I mean, I don't work there, so I can't say for certain. And I'm not saying your scenario couldn't, doesn't or didn't happen. I'm just saying that they used valuable resources (monetary and mental) on stuff that doesn't make a better game.

I haven't played D4, but out of curiosity, can you even earn these items in-game, or do you have to buy them?

I agree with @uninspiredcup: that the normalization of this nonsense over the years has led us here. This isn't the only reason Blizzard has fallen from grace, but it's all part of the same sh!t stew. Remember when you could just buy a Blizzard game and know it was going to be awesome? I do, and I miss it.

@dimebag667:

What I'm saying is that every game has a base game,and one or two editions costing more one may be a collectors edition,one may have all future dlc and one will have an extra mission or two,extra weapons and skins...all these will be a available to pre order before the game releases......it's all developed together apart from the one that has any future story dlc.....I would guess the rest is hand picked and pulled from the game and an extra £10 is put on and called a dulux edition

@uninspiredcup:

Simple facts....all games do it...spunking money on skins n shit is optional....games that are pay to win are the games gamers should go after

@uninspiredcup: I don’t understand the outrage from gamers over this. Why don’t you take a look at the real world, we now have people who are willing to pay $35k for a digital coin called a bitcoin, and $1.5k for the latest shitty iPhone. People have this dumb concept of money, it really has no value beyond meeting your basic needs and your security. Those are its most important functions because it ensures your survival. Beyond that, money loses most of its meaning. The world runs on belief, and people will pay $$ if they BELIEVE something is worth it. So even if I think the iPhone is an over priced scam piece of turd, or bitcoin is trash, none of that matters because other people believe it’s worth some thing.

Heck, even the dollar bill is based on belief lol, the people who made bitcoin figured that out and tapped into the scam. Prior to the 70s, the US dollar was backed by gold if i remember right. And gold value fluctuated based on real world supply. The government changed that and ever since then, the dollar has been based on belief. The people’s belief in the US as a country, democracy, the institutions, military, and the alliances with other countries.

So there you have it my friend. People are willing to pay for some over priced digital horse, who cares. There are idiots out there and people who make money off them. This is just how the economy functions.

Says this and then proceeds to compare video games to cryptocurrency.

With willing customers like this, you don't need fun games for a business model.

@saint-george: I think we're talking about two slightly different things. You're talking pre-order bonuses, and I'm talking about mtx. Both are lame.

All I'm saying is that I would prefer if they took the money and effort used to create all their mtx items, and instead put that towards better mechanics and systems.

I'm talking more a dulux edition that has a mission and a skin or a weapon and armour for an extra $10-15,pre order bonuses to me scream *buy our broken shit early* and we'll give you a nice set of armour 😂

People support wicked things. More news at eleven.

@X_CAPCOM_X: I just said the truth. Money is based on belief that’s all lol. People have this wierd thoughts about money and get upset when someone gets scammed out of $65 for a digital horse lol. Money is just money, it’s paper dude. It’s absolutely important, but also not that important beyond a point, and actually I’d say it’s even a curse beyond some point because it makes you lazy and weak. To these people paying $65 for the horse, who cares 😂??

Plus if you don't like the company or product, then buy something else...theres tons of amazing games out there, and those don't charge MTX. Thats free market.

@saint-george: Yeah, all of it is stupid. 👍

11.

@uninspiredcup said:

@shadyacshuns said:

People support wicked things. More news at eleven.

11.

Yep, I used to be addicted to Destiny 2, evil game from an evil company. I've since seen the light.

Considering you can get the Game of the Year 2023, which trashes this game completely, for the same price as this horse in a heavily monetized game, I'm a bit shocked to see people going in justifying this.

A damn shame. Some people would rather defend their favorite megacorp than play a fun game. I would rather buy another copy of Baldur's Gate 3.

No surprise there. Blizzard is known for its abusive/exploitative corporate culture, and has only extended this practice to its loyal customers, not just its employees.

Had an itch to play a little Diablo 4 recently, then I remembered it's Blizzard so I went and played Grim Dawn instead.

That should hold me over until Path of Exile 2 in June.

D4 and RE8 are the two titles i've purchased on day one that i will always remember as extreme waste of money. And in the case of D4, i am literally ashamed of telling others that i bought it day one, and spent over 300h playing it. Never again.

I think they're doing this out of desperation, just like Ubishit charging $70 for Skull N Bones. They know what's left of their community is tiny, so you gotta juice them out of as much cash as possible before there's anyone left. Lots of dying mmo's do it btw.

Difference is you can buy almost all of the ships with the in-game currency that you can earn inside of the Star Citizen game without having to spend extra money. Diablo 4 said no to all of that, and there's no other way to obtain these skins without spending money.