Can you spell ‘Revenue Stream’?
Blizzard sure can.
Of course they can. Blizzard’s a business.
Ninyu
1562
There is this nebulous “end game” that Blizzard keeps talking about. They aren’t ready to go into specifics yet. Someone unearthed an unpublished interview on one of the Blizzard sites that mentions an Inferno difficulty. It will probably be post-Hell and all the creatures will be scaled to level 60.
Also - I’d hope he would be a better class of friend than that! If something was actually worth $500 I’d MAKE my buddy put that shit up and sell it. Seriously.
I’m surprised at some of the responses over the always on DRM because I’m even -more- surprised that so many people play Diablo single player. I always felt like it was a mindless game without friends, so the always on factor is a non-issue for me. If it helps curb cheating (especially in HC), all the better… to me, Diablo is online multiplayer co-op, so I can’t even imagine doing anything else.
The cash AH worries me because I’m big on hardcore mode. At the higher levels, if people can get an edge, they will take it. I’m a little concerned about what this might do to the dynamic.
SlyFrog
1566
Always on DRM is just something where you’re going to have to suck it up and get used to it. It’s the future.
Blizzard doesn’t need to sell items directly in the AH. Don’t you all realize that they take a cut of each item that gets sold? Why sell items directly, when your random generator can drop them for players and the players pay you for the privilege of selling them? Blizzard is essentially in control of how/when they make cash - they literally control the machinery that is producing what gets sold, and they get paid every time anything gets sold. They’ve just made themselves the Diablo III eBay, but unlike eBay, they actually control and produce what you sell. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Hardcore characters are 100% excluded from the RMT auction house.
Nesrie
1568
I disagree. There are quality games you get now with zero DRM attached to them. It is ridiculous to assume that all pubs are going to go to the always on DRM which means it’s not the only future.
Always on DRM will become more and more common as time passes. This seems pretty uncontroversial.
I’m pretty sure something can “be the future” without that meaning that it is the only future. But hey, keep knocking down that strawman.
I’d prefer otherwise, but it’s not a big enough (or unreasonable enough) deal for me to boycott over. Personally, my connection is always on.
If always on DRM is the future, it’s a future where games are a transient, disposable medium; milked for cash and then casually discarded. It’s also a future where I no longer buy games. I don’t particularly want to see things go that way.
Sure, it’s not like it will be the only option, but big Publishers are definitely moving in this direction.
MMO’s already fit here, now add Diablo 3. Then consider Onlive, GfWL, Steam, Impulse, Origin, etc. All are streaming services or Digital Distribution platforms that can contain a DRM wrapper that can require a user to be always connected (or can likely be easily modified to do so).
Some Indies have already head down this path - Minecraft, Project Zomboid, Desktop Dungeons (??).
As access to the technology that enables it becomes more readily available or the compute power/hosting services required to set it up yourself become more affordable, it will be an increasingly attractive for Publishers/Developers to do it this way. There are many reasons this model seems attractive - better control/management of your user-base, direct revenue generation (cutting out Publishers), making it more difficult for pirates, simplifying distribution and patch management, etc.
Oh sweet Jesus, YES! Awesome, so all this time I was worried over nothing. I only play Hardcore with my friends, so we’ll still have access to the in-game auction house, but don’t have to worry about the RMT auction house? Awesome.
It’s also a future where I no longer buy games.
You are quite right about that, because when we get there, the EULA will mean you are technically only ever ‘renting’ a game! ;)
Teiman
1574
LIES.
There always will exist the game that only exist on singleplayer form, or that don’t really need a serverside component.
Making a multiplayer game is some orders of magnitude harder, more complex and more expensive. It just don’t always make sense. Not for all games. And is going to cause bad karma with anyone tryiing. People like Blizzard can do it, because his game is very popular. But if you do it with a game that is not very popular, you risk people chosing to ignore it. For some people will not even be a option, like people withouth internet, or with bad internet.
RepoMan
1575
If there are few enough of those people, the benefits (reduced piracy of the game as a whole being #1 among them) will outweigh the costs (of losing the non-connected minority of your potential customers).
Nesrie
1576
MMOs, as the nature of the beast, has always had this. It’s not the same at all to compare those to SP and even MP games. Neverwinter Nights had always on DRM, and that was primarily during dial up days… so what? You’ve also left out Paradox… who don’t seem to be headed down that direction.
Giaddon
1577
From http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2397-Diablo-3-Auction-House-Announced-Spend-and-Earn-Real-Life-Money!
Can Hardcore-mode characters use the currency-based auction house?
No. Hardcore characters will only have the option to buy and sell items together with other Hardcore characters via a separate “Hardcore-only” gold-based auction house; they will not be able to use the currency-based auction house. Hardcore mode is designed as an optional experience for players who enjoy the sense of constant peril that comes with the possibility of permanent death for a character. All of a Hardcore character’s items are forever lost upon that character’s death, so to avoid the risk of a player spending real money on items that could then be permanently lost when the character dies, we decided restrict the use of the currency-based auction house in Hardcore mode.
Really good call. And the reasoning makes a lot of sense. I’m actually getting jazzed about the real money auction house. I won’t ever buy stuff from there, but I can see myself selling the odd item.
Actually, doesn’t this just make a stronger case for not requiring an internet connection at all times? Just have a sing;le-player option where you don’t have online options? Why the rumpus?
Yes it is, we’re in the Diablo 3 thread. A thread about a game that is a single-player game (says a 48% majority of respondents in the other thread), from a Publisher/Developer that is regarded as an industry leader and one of the few raking in buckets of cash from their own franchises, which is now setting a trend that said single-player game will be pretty much an always-on DRM, server-side affair, deliverable as a result of their extensive experience in the MMO space.
I’m obviously not saying all Publishers and single-player games will venture down this route, but it will become increasingly viable and attractive.
RepoMan
1580
I’m sorry, Joe, but did you really not read the last four or five pages of this thread?
If not, well: piracy.
