Diablo IV will have an in-game shop, a new Blizzard job listing confirms, with the game’s product manager responsible for managing the game’s “in-game storefront throughout each season to deliver an exceptional player experience.”
The product manager will also “utilize tools to configure product contents, pricing, and availability,” and maintain the shop’s content roadmap.
This is the first official confirmation that Diablo IV will have an in-game shop and microtransactions of some kind, while also reinforcing the fact Blizzard’s next entry in the RPG franchise will be taking a live-service, seasonal approach.
News that Diablo IV will have an in-game store has some fans of the series concerned given the recent release of Blizzard’s free-to-play mobile game Diablo Immortal, which is also playable on PC with cross-play and cross-progression between platforms. Diablo Immortal has been heavily criticized for its various microtransactions, including some many players view as pay-to-win. Diablo Immortal has seen more than 10 million downloads, with Blizzard hailing the game’s launch as the biggest in franchise history. It also sports the lowest Metacritic user score for a PC game in Metacritic history with a score of .2.
Beta registrations for Diablo IV recently went live, though signing up doesn’t seem to guarantee a chance of getting into the beta once it does arrive. No start date for the beta is listed, and the game’s new beta sign-up page lists Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC as platforms, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 missing despite having already been announced for last-gen platforms.
Source: Gamespot
