NetEase’s action-RPG Diablo Immortal is a rather fun game coated by an extremely predatory monetisation system. Hated so much that the series’ largest fan site has abandoned it, Immortal is the black sheep of Diablo.
However, while many diss the game, it is pulling the results that Blizzard and NetEase wanted. After eight weeks, over $100,000,000 in player spending has occurred.
How much money has Diablo Immortal made?
In a report by analysis group Sensor Tower, Diablo Immortal has made over $100,000,000 from players. After just eight weeks of release, the game has made a gargantuan amount of money.
Diablo isn’t the fastest mobile game to reach this target. In fact, Niantic’s Pokémon Go hit the same amount in just two weeks. For comparison, Fire Emblem hit that amount in 10 weeks and Fortnite hit the target in 12 weeks.
Importantly, Immortal‘s player spending charts lack an entire section of its audience: Chinese players. Due to censorship issues, the title launched late in Chinese markets, and no sales data has been captured.
With this in mind, Diablo Immortal could be raking in even more money than expected. With the game designed with the Chinese market in mind, the game’s $100,000,000 sales may actually be a vast understatement.
Who’s spending all of this?
As with any free-to-play game’s revenue records, the ask is the same: who is spending all of this money? Well, obviously it’s whales, but where do they come from?
In the Sensor Tower report, the locational data for big spenders was revealed. Unsurprisingly, the United States is the biggest spender on Diablo Immortal. After that comes Asian territories with South Korea in second and Japan in third.
This spending comes after months of complaints about Diablo Immortal’s predatory monetisation. While Blizzard believes its game is fair to players, it’s really not.
Nevertheless, Diablo Immortal is a fun game at its core. Perhaps, one day, it can be something great.