Diablo 3’s controversial auction house would have been removed faster if not for legal concerns

Diablo III’s The controversial real-money auction house could have been scrapped sooner if Blizzard hadn’t worried about the possible legal ramifications of doing so, according to lead designer Jay Wilson.

The real money auction house allows players to buy and sell in-game items from other players in exchange for real-world gold or cash. It caused an almost immediate backlash when Diablo III released, as players found themselves unable to get through the game’s higher difficulty without purchasing better items through the auction house (with Blizzard cutting off a small portion of the beginning of each transaction). The auction house was eventually removed about two years after the game’s launch.

Speaking as part of the Diablo Retrospective panel at Portland Retro Gaming Expo (via PC Gamers), Wilson said he realized early on that the auction house was a big deal. However, Blizzard is apprehensive about removing the feature immediately as it is highlighted on the game’s physical box as an in-game feature. Removing this feature could expose Blizzard to lawsuits and other legal issues.

“The reason we didn’t remove it as soon as we found it legally problematic, we didn’t think we could because it was advertised on the box,” Wilson said. “We really took a long time trying to work through all the legal issues before finally saying, ‘Okay, we think it’s worth a try, if we get sued, that’s fine. .'”

When talking about why the auction house was implemented in the first place, Wilson repeated what has been stated many times over the years: that the reason behind Diablo III’s auction house was to crack down on people. sell gold and hackers, not to make money.

“The reason we want to be a real money auction house is security, nothing else,” says Wilson. “It’s not about making money. We honestly didn’t think it would make that much money.”

Wilson said he would be surprised if the auction house made more than $10 or $15 million in the two years it existed, which he said sounds like a lot but is a drop from what it claims to be. Blizzard’s flagship game brings. World of Warcraft in progress at that time. When asked in a later question about Activision’s influence on Blizzard (Activision acquired Blizzard in 2008), Wilson said Diablo III was not affected by Activision’s business pressures because it was a “model” premium box” as opposed to a subscription-based or free-to-play business model.

Blizzard has released the first free-to-play entry in the Diablo series, Diablo Immortal, this early year. It was quick criticized for its microtransactions. Diablo Immortal also includes an auction house where players can buy and sell certain items from other players, with recent update clears up some confusion about which consumables allow items to be sold on the auction house.

When it comes to Diablo IVBlizzard has clarified the game will not include any way for players to buy player poweralthough the game will have Cosmetics store.