While some Diablo enthusiasts are holding out hope for Diablo Immortal, many fans of the dungeon-crawling series have already panned the new game and its extensive monetization, labeling it “pay-to-win.” On his stream earlier this week, Asmongold detailed his plan to play the game and progress as far as he can without paying any money at all. He intends to follow up that progress when he hits “the wall” by spending money on the game and see how much faster he can progress.
“I’m basically crucifying myself to save the audience, to show them what it’s like,” the streamer said. “I’m basically Jesus.”
While Asmongold’s plan is clearly meant to demonstrate just how predatory the monetization of Diablo Immortal could be, others weren’t having it. One such detractor was McconnellRet, who pleaded with Asmongold’s chat to not go forward in any way that could support Diablo Immortal.
“Don’t do this… don’t play this fucking game,” he said, while Asmongold stepped away from his streaming setup. “At least, if you have to play it, don’t give them any fucking money, dude. Don’t fucking buy into this shit. It’s a scam.” He also said that he didn’t buy Asmongold’s Jesus analogy and expressed his frustrations with mobile games and gamers.
The pointed comments came in the midst of Asmongold reacting to a video that detailed Diablo Immortal’s monetization and how the game uses several different types of currencies in ways designed to force players into buying currency with real money to progress, despite the Diablo game being technically free-to-play.
Asmongold did wind up going forward with his plan, playing Diablo Immortal with over 100,000 viewers in his stream. The game was released today for iOS and Android, while a beta version was also made available for PC.
