Today, the Los Angeles Times published a lengthy interview with Blizzard’s Mike Ybarra, who was clearly aiming to rehabilitate the company’s image following a series of development setbacks and scandals. You’d think Ybarra might have used the opportunity to express some contrition regarding Diablo Immortal’s much-criticized monetization, but it seems Blizzard is sticking to its guns. Ybarra insists they’ve designed a game where you can “literally do 99.5% of everything” for free and that hundreds of millions could potentially play without spending any extra cash. According to a Blizzard rep, the “vast majority” of Diablo Immortal are playing for free, although specific numbers weren’t provided. Of course, these justifications largely talk around the real issue. The vast majority of players for all free-to-play games don’t pay anything, because they log in, play for a few minutes until they hit a paywall, then move on to something else. It’s the hardcore players, those prone to being drawn in and hooked by free-to-play mechanics, that we have to talk about. It’s on free-to-play games to not exploit their most dedicated players, and I don’t see how you can describe charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single character as anything but. That said, the march toward mobile will continue, as Ybarra says Blizzard’s traditional focus on PC gaming is a thing of the past… Activision Blizzard has faced a series of lawsuits and other legal action on the heels of a suit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) alleging widespread gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the Call of Duty publisher. You can get more details on that unfolding story here. Per Ybarra, Blizzard has hired ex-Disney execs Jessica Martinez and Makaiya Brown to lead company culture and equity efforts, and the subjects are now discussed at “every single staff meeting.” That said, employees the LA Times spoke to under the condition of anonymity expressed skepticism whether the studio’s issues can be fixed. Diablo Immortal is available now on PC and mobile devices.
