Diablo Immortal: What Blizzard says about in-game purchases and item swapping

As a free-to-play game, Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal naturally relies on monetization through in-game purchases. But how exactly do they present themselves and what effect do they have?

In a group interview last week, Principle Game Designer Joe Grubb spoke about this topic, among other things.

All major systems are free

“I think the most important thing is that all the major gameplay systems in Diablo Immortal are free,” he says. “That includes the main storyline, the dungeons, our eight-player raid system, the endgame content Cycle of Strife. Everything in Immortal is completely free to do. And part of that comes from our philosophy of never changing the core gameplay touch and optional purchases are always a bonus.”

This includes the usual things, such as cosmetic items, which you can get via the Battle Pass, among other things. According to Grubb, it was important that such optional purchases should never offer the possibility of acquiring equipment and experience points.

“So we will never sell equipment or experience in Immortal,” asserts Grubb. “And that means you have to play Immortal to increase your power. You have to master your class. If you want to have a good necromancer, you have to play with him. You get legendary items and loot by killing demons, increased your Paragon level and need to find the items to get the skill build you are aiming for.”

Accordingly, there is no auction house in which players could exchange or sell things with each other.

“And that brings me back to what I said before,” he explains. “To advance you have to play the game, you have to find the items, you have to kill demons and get the legendary gear yourself.”

“So there’s no way to trade items that you’re physically wearing. In Diablo Immortal, there’s a market that allows for the exchange of regular gems, legendary gems, and amulets. And it’s pretty heavily regulated in terms of what kind how prices and other things work there.”

Diablo Immortal will be released on June 2, 2022 for PC, iOS and Android.