Diablo Immortal's Maddening Microtransactions Earned Blizzard A Hellacious $24M So Far

In just a mere two weeks, Diablo Immortal has been able to garner $24 million in micro-transactions. Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play game was downloaded nearly 8.5 million times over the same time period, with 26% of those being in the United States.

Blizzard's Diablo Immortal is a new mobile game that is set between the events of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and Diablo III. While one may think most of the spending on the game is happening in Asia, 43% of it was done in America, 23% in South Korea, and a mere 8% in Japan. Throw in the fact that 9% is coming from Germany and Canada combined, and you can quickly see that the game's earnings are being derived mostly from western countries. Ironically, those are also the countries that have been the most vocal against the monetization system.

To put the $24 million figure in a bit of perspective, however, Sensor Tower estimates that Honor Kings made $268 million in May 2022, while PUBG Mobile made an estimated $206 million. Hearthstone, the only other Blizzard mobile game out at the moment, earned about $5 million in May.

The question is how much players of Diablo Immortal are getting out of their investment, and if that return will be enough to keep them coming back. One of the fears expressed has been that the monetization system would be a big success, and in turn influence how the studio monetizes its future games.

It is important to note, Diablo franchise general manager Rod Fergusson stated that Diablo IV would have a different monetization system than that of Immortal. He tweeted recently, "To be clear, D4 is a full-price game built for PC/PS/Xbox audiences."

Right now it is not known how much of the earnings are split between cosmetics and battle passes, and legendary gem-filled dungeon loot boxes with the crest system. Time will tell if the game remains as popular as it is right now, and if those earnings will increase, or decrease over time. While the monetization system won't be implemented in Diablo IV, if Blizzard does find success with the system in Diablo Immortal, it might very well make it the go to with any new mobile games and/or free-to-play games it develops.

Top Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Diablo Immortal