{"id":125493,"date":"2022-06-20T10:30:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T08:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=125493"},"modified":"2022-06-20T11:07:55","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T09:07:55","slug":"diablo-immortal-earns-24-million-in-first-two-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/entertainment\/125493-diablo-immortal-earns-24-million-in-first-two-weeks","title":{"rendered":"Diablo Immortal earns $24 million in first two weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to GameDev Reports<\/a><\/strong>, Blizzard\u2019s Diablo Immortal<\/em> has earned a whopping $24 million (R383 million) in two weeks \u2014 having launched on 2 June 2022.<\/p>\n

The report further revealed that the free-to-play mobile game was downloaded almost 8.5 million times since its release, with 26% of the downloads originating in the US.<\/p>\n

Additionally, while America only accounts for a quarter of the number of downloads, its players have contributed 43% of Immortal\u2019s <\/em>total earnings.<\/p>\n

Many point to Blizzard\u2019s extensive monetisation of the game as the catalyst for Diablo Immortal\u2019s<\/em> financial success \u2014 a strategy that was highly criticised by the gaming community.<\/p>\n

As we already covered in a previous article<\/a><\/strong>, it costs an average of $110,000 (R1,7 million) to completely max out a character in Diablo Immortal<\/em> \u2014and this design lets the game offer substantially higher returns for time investment when you spend money.<\/p>\n

To put Immortal\u2019s<\/em> early financial success in context, Hearthstone<\/em>, the only other mobile game Blizzard has out at the moment, earned only $5 million (R80 million) in May.<\/p>\n

Despite the vocal backlash to Immortal\u2019s monetization systems, no one expected the game to fail out of the gate.<\/p>\n

Instead, many fans of the franchise worry that the success of Diablo Immortal <\/em>is an incentive for Blizzard and other studios to incorporate micro-transactions into future games \u2014 including the upcoming Diablo IV<\/em> which is expected release in 2023.<\/p>\n

However, Rod Fergusson, an overseer for the development of Diablo IV<\/em>, addressed these fears last week and tweeted that the title won\u2019t be pay-to-win<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

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. More details soon. Necro blog tomorrow!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) June 12, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n