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That's pretty much what happened, but it was the outcry on its impact on gameplay that really destroyed Diablo 3's release.
The auction house, as it was, forced players to play the game so they could get crap, literally garbage, (and materials, IIRC) to sell on the auction house in order to get the currency to buy "the good stuff." Forget trying to actually achieve that getting "drops" as "loot." This went beyond the "cash money marketplace" which was the sort of goal the apex-predators wanted to reach, but few actually could. (And, of course, new dupe bugs were found.)
The impact of just playing to fuel one's auction-house listings/purchases was... It was so very bad... It meant that "loot explosions" meant nearly nothing as the frequency of a decent drop was garbage, since there was an "Auction House."
Players were literally playing so they could buy items from other players. It felt like institutionalized slavery, since the odds of actually getting a good item from a drop off of random_nothing_mob were close to nil.
Keep in mind, the drops and farming mechanics were entirely built around supporting that Auction House system. Gone were the "boss runs" of Diablo 2 and a good many players missed that. Why? Because phat lewtz was the exciting captsone when defeating a touch boss. Blizzard's idea of trying to prevent "repeated boss runs which nobody likes" (Said Blizzard) was to... not give any loot drops when a boss was defeated. Yeah... that was stupid.
Diablo is and has always been a "looter" game. Blizzard destroyed that with their Auction House. Players only got excited when they put in a successful bid in the AH and rarely excited because good loot dropped from a tough mob... Yay?
Anyway, the popularity and hype for the release was so very big, and the gameplay fans got was so very terrible, that fans started handing out torches and pitfchforks. Criticism hit a fever pitch and ratings tanked and player-count dwindled. See, the whole focus on the Auction House and all the mechanics that pushed players to it meant that the game had to actually have... "players" in order to function and to provide a casual player with hope they could enjoy the game. (Which, they couldn't, 'cause its design sucked.)
Any legal or tax issues were secondary - The playerbase's outrage and players deserting the game meant it just couldn't possibly function to provide good gameplay. So, they basically revamped the entire gameplay model and finally turned it into a decent game as a result.
Diablo 3 is an example of a game that was forced to change because of player outrage and Blizzard's desperation to save their franchise. But... we all know what it really was - Blizzard's "intent" was very evident in D3's initial design. They had to pull back from that quite a bit, but their motivations were pretty clear. They just picked the exact wrong way to push a forever-monetization mechanic in that game.
With Diablo:Immortal, they've brought in NetEase to provide the expertise they lack and NetEase is a "wringer" developer who are very well seasoned professionals when it comes to fleecing desperate gamers of their money by using predatory monetization schemes.
This was finely crafted. Well done. :)
I'm not even excited over the new Diablo. I have no interest in playing it whatsoever because I've played enough P2W games to know I'm going to hate it.
Unfortunately games like this are a revolving door. If enough new players keep coming in and paying money they will stay in business even if these players grow tired of it and leave shortly afterwards.
Major studios don't make games anymore. They make monetization schemes.
Go find something fun made by a small studio. Rimworld or Amazing Cultivation Simulator would be a good start. You will get so many hours of fun for only a few of your dollars.
Or hell, an Elder Scrolls title. Oblivion or Skyrim are both a great value.
All gaming companies are trying to make money but how Blizzard went with Diablo made me feel like no companies gives a ♥♥♥♥, its 99,9999% purely about profits. Games are not art, not created from passion, no pride in their work, dont care how many man hours it took to create something. They're just products, not any different from some office program or some other app in eyes of the companies.
I know AAA companies are like that BUT Blizzard was one of the few that used to be different and also yes i'm aware Blizzard became crap well before Diablo Immortal. Imagine if/when Valve starts making games again and they do this to Half life series and releases something like that for mobile...
blizzard is also testing the waters, imagine diablo 4 (:
I don't know what Blizz's response is going to be to all this. I think they're carefully weighing their options and trying to respond in such a way that it preserves whatever current monetization strategy they have for Diablo 4.
But...
If the outcry gets much worse, it could severely impact their projections for Diablo 4 if they don't make a strong turn-around... I doubt they are going to change anything in Diablow:Immoral. But, if people who own tanks and fighter aircraft decide they don't like Blizzard anymore, Blizzard may not have a choice in the matter if they want to sell games in those countries.
For sure, though, I don't see anyone in the U.S. batting an eye at this.. I swear, the EU seems like a better place to live every darn day given the lack of consumer and privacy protection in the U.S. these days. So, I guess politicians are fine with their kids being motivated to spend their college tuition at Blizzard's store...
Like, if a company decides to pretend its for gamers and they create a predatory nft system or lootbox system or whatever else they do instead of creating artwork, then they should be fined and outright banned from opening any office or workstation in said country.
the idea is that producing the product, a quality, lasting product should be the goal, not money. Making money should be, coincidence.
Currently they just use their advertisement slogan, like "hey we make games" as a means to get money, and so they minimize on making games, because they don't want to, they just want money. They want money so badly they want to basically force you to give it to them, except that they cannot so they only invest in methods that garantee them money or manipulate you into giving them money.
and this is wrong.
Any action a company does that involves lying to everyone, like shrinking product size to make more money for example is wrong. They use excuses like 'inflation' to ramp up their gain with 800% compared to a decade ago and I suspect that things aren't 8 times as expensive for them, so its a lie.
They shorten lifespan for products to make you buy them sooner, etc.
And in games, they turn it into a gambling machine or whatever. (they don't care about laws so one no one fines these businesses)
Poeple are selling Free Stuff, under their name as a game on Steam. (unity assets / assetflips) (or whole products, like gimp on windows store which is free and gnu)
That is how lazy people are getting just for profit. Do nothing, max gain.
You claim you're a game dev? Create original content, art and a whole experience for the gamer that the gamer can go through, not a system that delivers you money.
You claim you're a gambling machine creator, then its okay to create systems that deliver money to you.
Combining these two things and pretending you're a game dev, should not be legal either.
End the lies, is basically what I am saying.
Edit: So what I mean is that it isn't just about lootboxes, my suggestion, it is about basically every lie in the book companies use.
For example, microsoft, claiming with Office 360 that it wants to deliver companies products their employees could use to create documents and share them online.
However in reality, when they go install the product they're greeded with a sign up page for a monthly subscription.
In other words, the goal isn't to deliver this product, but instead to make money.
Therefore, microsoft should be advertising "we like to offer you a chance on giving us monthly money. In return we will let you use this."
and keep the users informed about mainly the costs because that is what microsoft wants you to give them.
And this should be immediately up front and clear to the consumer.
~ From an Australian Demon Hunter
Great quote.
But yes; it was always about the money it was a business after all but at least they tried to earn it before.
Just like in the past its the indies that lead the way since they have to stand out one way or another instead of resting on laurels.