Diablo IV received some severe backlash over microtransactions when it launched back in 2023, with some bundles even costing more than the $69.99 base game. It appears, however, that its microtransaction-laden monetization strategy has paid off, according to an accidental leak on LinkedIn from senior product manager, Harrison Froeschke.
According to the now-deleted LinkedIn profile update, Diablo IV has managed to generate a total of $1 billion in total revenue since it launched, with $150 million of that coming from microtransactions and in-game purchases. Perhaps more interestingly, though, is the fact that this is unusually low for an Activision-Blizzard game.
While $150 million—15% of the game's total revenue—is nothing to scoff at, it turns out that it actually falls short of Activision-Blizzard's average revenue split. Data from Statista indicates that, in 2022 at least, as much as 78% of Activision-Blizzard's overall net revenue came from "in-game purchases, subscription services, and other revenues". Of course, this includes King, the mobile gaming division responsible for making Candy Crush, which would artificially elevate that figure.
King only makes free-to-play mobile games, however, so it's safe to assume its revenue only contributes to the $5.889 billion Activision-Blizzard made from in-game purchases and microtransactions in 2022. Eliminating King's $2.785 billion from Activision-Blizzard's 2022 earnings still leaves microtransactions accounting for $3.101 billion, while game purchases only resulted in $1.642 billion in revenue—that leaves microtransactions, subscriptions, and other in-game purchases at roughly 65% of Activision-Blizzard's entire revenue for 2022, compared to just 15% for Diablo IV alone.
Gamepressure managed to grab a screenshot of the LinkedIn post before it was deleted (see above), and while it doesn't explicitly mention subscriptions, it's safe to assume "bundle offers" also include recurring battle pass purchases made through the Diablo IV store. While it's clear gamers still spent sizeable sums of money in the Diablo IV in-game store, it seems as though the earlier criticisms of the game's hefty cosmetic purchase prices fairly accurately reflected the sentiments of players when the game initially launched.
The LinkedIn profile, which has seemingly been removed from the internet in its entirety, reads as follows:
Regardless, Activision-Blizzard and its parent company, Microsoft, must think the in-game microtransactions are a success, because the game is still actively being maintained, with the upcoming Vessel of Hatred, a paid expansion, landing on October 8, bringing with it a new season battle pass and likely new cosmetics to go with the new class, region, and story.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
According to the now-deleted LinkedIn profile update, Diablo IV has managed to generate a total of $1 billion in total revenue since it launched, with $150 million of that coming from microtransactions and in-game purchases. Perhaps more interestingly, though, is the fact that this is unusually low for an Activision-Blizzard game.
While $150 million—15% of the game's total revenue—is nothing to scoff at, it turns out that it actually falls short of Activision-Blizzard's average revenue split. Data from Statista indicates that, in 2022 at least, as much as 78% of Activision-Blizzard's overall net revenue came from "in-game purchases, subscription services, and other revenues". Of course, this includes King, the mobile gaming division responsible for making Candy Crush, which would artificially elevate that figure.
King only makes free-to-play mobile games, however, so it's safe to assume its revenue only contributes to the $5.889 billion Activision-Blizzard made from in-game purchases and microtransactions in 2022. Eliminating King's $2.785 billion from Activision-Blizzard's 2022 earnings still leaves microtransactions accounting for $3.101 billion, while game purchases only resulted in $1.642 billion in revenue—that leaves microtransactions, subscriptions, and other in-game purchases at roughly 65% of Activision-Blizzard's entire revenue for 2022, compared to just 15% for Diablo IV alone.
Gamepressure managed to grab a screenshot of the LinkedIn post before it was deleted (see above), and while it doesn't explicitly mention subscriptions, it's safe to assume "bundle offers" also include recurring battle pass purchases made through the Diablo IV store. While it's clear gamers still spent sizeable sums of money in the Diablo IV in-game store, it seems as though the earlier criticisms of the game's hefty cosmetic purchase prices fairly accurately reflected the sentiments of players when the game initially launched.
The LinkedIn profile, which has seemingly been removed from the internet in its entirety, reads as follows:
- Leading the monetization strategy of the store cosmetics, pricing, bundle offers, personalized discounts, and roadmap planning which have driven over $150M MTX lifetime revenue.
- Executed every step of game sales since game pre-order to the first expansion by configuring and collaborating with other teams resulting in over $1B total lifetime revenue.
- Collaborating with IP Stakeholders to bring in popular franchises into the world of Diablo via themed engagement incentives and cosmetics based on popular characters.
- Designing and implementing the use of detailed data tags for all store products to not only enable a more powerful recommendation engine, but also allowing for better toggles for data dashboards.
- Training other Product Managers all the tools and procedures needed to operate the shop and battle pass successfully, including contention plans and contact lists.
Regardless, Activision-Blizzard and its parent company, Microsoft, must think the in-game microtransactions are a success, because the game is still actively being maintained, with the upcoming Vessel of Hatred, a paid expansion, landing on October 8, bringing with it a new season battle pass and likely new cosmetics to go with the new class, region, and story.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
