Despite the overwhelming backlash, Diablo Immortal’s micro-processing game design seems to be working fine for Blizzard. Using data from mobile analytics firm Appmagic, MobileGamer.biz estimates that the iOS and Android versions of the game brought in $49 million in mobile downloads, with just over 10 million in its first 30 days.
Using publicly available charts and graphics provided by mobile platforms, these estimates do not include the PC version of the game and therefore may not represent the full financial success of the game. Blizzard reported that when PC gamers are included, Diablo Immortal has surpassed 10 million downloads in its first week, which is much faster than the mobile download speed reported by AppMagic.
If we look at Diablo 3 for comparison, we see that the game reached 10 million copies in six months after a problematic release moment in 2012. Of course, given Diablo 3’s initial purchase price of $60, it might not be fair to compare it to a free game that generates less than $5 per download, AppMagic says.
However, while Diablo 3’s revenue basically ends with the first sale, it seems possible that Diablo Immortal will continue to generate more revenue from its existing player base. For example, as of Monday, the game remained the 34th highest-grossing app, despite falling to 134th place for new downloads across the iOS App Store.
It can be predicted that the majority of these Immortal players will move away from the game over time, but that departure may be much slower than previously thought. According to Android app continuity estimates from analytics firm Quettra, an app released in the “TOP 10” on the Google Play Store can expect to retain 60% of its original users after three months. Also, public data from hugely successful mobile games like Pokémon Go, Angry Birds, and Candy Crush Saga shows that between 10 and 20 percent of those who download these games continue to play the game regularly a year or two after its release.
So, Diablo Immortal may continue to have millions of active users in the next year and beyond. While the majority of these players will not spend any money on the game at all, the portion that will spend money can provide recurring income for Blizzard over a long period of time.
Blizzard promised that Diablo IV would limit microtransactions to only optional visual options, but Diablo Immortal’s performance proves how attractive a microtransaction-based free-to-play model can be for a company like Blizzard.
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