The Immoral Design of Diablo Immortal

This game is fun to play but holy shit does it get stale if you don’t spend money. That’s why I delete it every few months and restart again💀

"The only reasons i remember your name is bcoz its above your head.....while your dying" 😂😂😂😂
True true truuue

Activision having standards. Ha that's a good one because they don't have standards.

There is nothing wrong in enjoying something; and nobody should feel bad. In the same way if you use alcohol or drugs, you should not feel bad if you enjoy it. But there are people that get hooked on it; and that is bad. Add to that the fact that some people get hooked, and may not even have money, and you end up with tragedy.

The immoral part is that our society has a lot of things that are technically bad (drinking, drugs, gambling and so on); but yet they are considered OK if you can control it or if they are somehow legalized. Then one day we wake up and realize that something is wrong and try to fix it... And people used to that will fight you, because for them it is "normal". So if for someone having these things in a game is "normal", they will fight you; and eventually these abusive practice will become something we will ban, or will become like alcohol and cigarettes... Something we know that can hurt, but people put a label on it and say "be responsible with it".

I feel like the fact that companies keep making these kinds of games despite the outrage is 100% the players fault, if these companies haven't found it profitable they wouldn't put their money and effort into it, but sadly it is, because there is a huge market for these games, and if they don't do it, someone else will.

People need self control

I’ve been trying to get into this game several times but there’s just something about this game that is missing… something major that stops it from being a fun experience. I don’t know what it is

TLDR; Mobile gamers are hopeless. I've never seen a product so thoroughly designed to suck money from your pocket like a rabid Onceler, and as others have surely said; it's genuinely as impressive as it is disgusting. It's like every time I see something like this my definition of "Shameless" shifts a little.

I think people who say "gaming is dead" are being a bit overdramatic, but it isn't hard to see why they say that with companies thinking they can just do shit like this. Seriously people, have some standards.

"Do you guys not have phones" -ActivisionBlizard

I realize that most people shouldn't play this because their brains cannot handle the temptations of spending real money, but game is fkin legit awesome free to play. I know why people bitch moan and complain, they're just protecting their own weak minds from being lured into spending money.

It makes me sick just watching this hell of late stage capitalism

Thank is what happens when games are not developed by independent developer teams but by capitalist exploitation of everyone system

Fuck capitalism

This is why I deleted Warhammer 40 k s new game. The season pass crap. Hate this stuff. It’s life ruining. Unless you are a millionaire. Cocaine might be cheaper for some players. This stuff needs to stop. STOP GACHA

Diablo Immortal is the lowest rated Blizzard game.

Diablo Immortal is the lowest rated Blizzard game so far.

The problem with people sayin that "I don't support the cash shop, because I'm not buying anything from it" but keep playing the game, is that they are actually supporting this shitty monetization.
You playing the game gives the spenders the reason to spend in the game.
Playing pvp? Now there's someone to defeat (now spenders can buy power from the cash shop).
Just generally chilling in the game? Now there's someone to impress, with the shiny cash shop armors. It doesn't matter that you don't care about how other's look, the important is that the spender can show off their expensive cosmetic armor, whether you care about it or not.
If you really don't want to support games like this, then just don't play it.

Well, somebody had to stress test just how far you can trick the type of player who lives and dies by asserting their progress over others. Quite far, as it turns out. A lot of people who probably have a lot of problems in life let them take their money and run away with it.

Maybe this game can be the new benchmark for when to abandon games that clearly just wants to exploit you, rather than feeding into them?

Yet fox news and Ben can ignore the higher crime rate in Saint Louis because its in a red state. It's like I always say, any right wing argument can be disassembled with a 30 second Google search.

Mad respect to whoever gave Callum that 20$

I love how all this went down then people get D4 like nothing ever happened 😂

I pray and hope for the day that gaming companies stop doing this. I want more than anything for fromsoft to become the highest valued gaming company, so that maybe EA and Activision-Blizzard will take a lesson from them.

Probably not, though. Even if that did happen, they still wouldn't learn. Theyd double down.

this game is disgusting and the magnum opus of greed. I feel sorry for all of you "having fun" playing it

excellent game play experience to fall asleep to. yawwwn

Thank you for your very detailed, balanced and - most or all - entertaining analysis of this game! Your videos are as excellent as ever!

I know I'm quite late to the party, but predatory monetication strategies haven't ceased over the last year, so I think it's fine, if I add my incoheren't ramblings to this video:

I have played gacha games for quite some time now, and even if I have never dedicated myself to one single game for more than 8 months, I think I can talk confidently about them due to the variety of gacha games I played. I am not the type to easily spend money and fortunately I was able to stick to my guns and never throw cash at something without the GUARANTEE of receiving something I want. Nevertheless, I am part of the problem and one of the many reasons why predatory monetication strategies have spread over to classic PC/Console gaming, which is a trend I very much despise, since I fear the pending doom of one of my favorite pastimes. Some of you might call me a hypocrite for this, and maybe you're right.

However, I always try to discriminate between the monetication system and the game itself. If you'd ask me whether or not I like Fate/GO, Arknights and Girl's Frontline, I'd never say: "Yes, of course. They're great." What you'll hear me say instead will be along the lines of: "Yes, they are great, if not for the fact that they are gacha games." If I had the choice, I'd always wish for these games not to include gacha mechanics, but unfortunately they make more money this way. That doesn't mean on the other hand, that I don't have a lot of fun with these games, quite the opposite. They are fun to me and I have to respect the effort that went into them from all the talented artists, voice actors, musicians, writers and game designers. I want to like these games and I want to continue having fun with them. That doesn't mean though, that I have to support their business models as well. In the same sentence I can praise a game's art direction and lament its predatory nature.
I
n the end, your feelings about a game do NOT need to fall into a black and white scheme. They most likely are a complicated thing and therefore should be expressed as such, as expertly presented by Josh Strife Hayes at the beginning and end of this video. And I also think, that this is an attitude more people - and especially mobile players - should have towards the games they like (without trying to sound like a role model, which I'm not). You don't have to support every aspect of a game that you like. More often than not, it is better to state your criticisms so that the game you enjoy will continue to grow and improve in the future.

As a final side note: I haven't actually played Diablo Immortal myself, but from what Josh Strife Hayes has accumulated in this video, I can make the educated guess that, yes, Diablo Immortal seems to be more predatory than current mainstream gacha games like Genshin Impact. The frightening part about it is however, to think, that the systems established in Diablo Immortal might become the new norm for videogames in general (e.g. the horse armour DLC in oblivion despite the backlash at the time being a rather tame and harmless business practice today).

In any case: I apologize for my incoherent thoughts and thank you, if you've read this far.

well now watching all that gameplay kind of makes me want to look more into the series. what about the older diablo titles

It's a terrible game made on a terrible system, and anyone who willingly gives money towards it needs psychological help. Removing the microtransactions wouldn't suddenly make it good, just mediocre.

After a year I'm still proud that after Diablo 3 necromancer pack I haven't given Blizzard a single penny, not for overwatch, not for Diablo IV, not for anything. This companny is gross

Gacha games are just one giant abusive relationship. Entirely onesided, demanding more money over and over with not a single care for the people they're draining. Its why i so passionately loathe gambling mechanics in video games, it's a parasite on the industry and the only name i have for the people that keep spamming the market with their gambling-laden trash is scum.

Also activision-blizzard has literal blood on their hands so they're scum².

In the end of the day, games like D Immortal are destroying our favorite hobby and the fault is not from corporate, no, it's consumers' fault; these people that can't discipline themselves and give proper importance to their money. The funniest thing is watching one of these people defending the game and its publisher because he's so afraid to face reality and responsibility

I have to say no one has really said the game isn't fun. The critiques are really about the monetization.
It looks to me like a Diablo III mod, which ain't a bad thing.

Holy shit facial recognition? I think they’d have to acknowledge that on the App Store

Mostly what annoys me is a limited inventory. It’s actually a decent game if you don’t use the lootboxes. I feel like the difficulty curve is right on point for just grinding and if I change my mind I’ll mention it. But yes they are greedy bastards. Also it Seems right now there’s a limit on the amount of coins you can have (100k)…lol at “you guys don’t have phones”

August 2023: BG3 has entered the chat

yes

It’s a shame that this basically became the precursor to Diablo IV’s awful microtransactions. Granted they’re nowhere near as egregious as spending $10k for no 5 stars, but it’s definitely taken inspiration from Immortal’s unfortunate success.

And what’s worse is gamers are letting it happen, specifically the ones with big wallets and no care for how we get affected. It doesn’t matter if they’re helping usher a horrible age of gaming, so long as they’re “having fun.”

Pay to lose

Somewhere in there is the faint glimmer of a game that actually looks like it's more fun than Diablo 4

My question to this day is still...

Where's the "Buy Game" button for individuals who will never pay for a microtransaction? I'm never going to buy the stuff. I'm only here to play some game. I didn't need that crap in D3. If you want any cash from me, sell me the game.

I'll never figure that one out. There are some people who will pay, say... I'd pay $25 for this game. Maybe more if it offers the same game length as a normal PC release. But we'll never buy into the nickel and dime stuff. Why not let us buy it outright and get at least something from us?

Everything about this game is gross and i feel like i need to shower after even watching people play it.

Free to play? More like free to pay

Classic blizzard they cranked this out then went to harass some female colleagues

Diablo I

I played for a few hours but the fact that I was playing day one, and there was people already maxed out, was disheartening.

god the amount of screen pollution alone is sickening

Thumbs up for the Shawn of the dead reference.

Honestly, mobile gamers are ruining the passion for triple A titles and full games without abusive monetization strategies. These idiots wont stop dropping 100 bucks a week to play "their game". Fifa is even worse. If it werent for passion gaming as we love it would be dead.