In a recent interview with Windows Central, Rod Fergusson, the franchise lead for Diablo 4, discussed the game’s approach to microtransactions and seasons. He stated that despite the in-game store becoming more complex since launch, all items will only be for looks and won’t give any gameplay advantages.
During the interview, Fergusson talked about the success of Season 2 (Season of Blood), attributing its popularity to the relatable vampire theme and increased monster density for satisfying power-fantasy gameplay. He mentioned that Blizzard understands the importance of maximizing monster encounters for the core Diablo experience.
One big deal was the Public Test Realm (PTR), which is supposed to help test Season 4. It was important to collect feedback on major game changes. The developer said Blizzard is deciding how frequently to use PTRs, considering player feedback alongside new season updates. Fergusson also mentioned the possibility of making PTRs available to console players once technical certification-related challenges are addressed.
That’s pretty awesome because the issues on PC don’t always translate to consoles and vice versa. Letting fans test the game themselves is a great idea because they’ll do things that normally weren’t thought of in development.
Fergusson talked about the perception that the cosmetics you can earn in Diablo 4 are not as attractive as the ones you can buy. He said Blizzard is trying to make the store items easier by offering bundle discounts and personalized discounts in the future. Fergusson also suggested that they plan to add more visually exciting cosmetic rewards to the earnable content.
“What I don’t love about the PTR is the fact that right now it is PC only. And that’s more of a technological issue for us. To get things onto retail consoles, you have to go through certification. And that’s harder when you’re in sort of a test build and with a test server and a different environment than a production environment… One of the ways we’ve been trying to grow Diablo is to make sure that we really lean into console play as well as PC. And so that’s one place where we’re going to be definitely looking at how we can kind of get there. But like I said, the console ecosystems with their certification just makes a bunch of this a little bit harder. And so that’s why we’re still working through that.”
Rod Fergusson
Going back to cosmetics, Fergusson said Blizzard has recognized the ongoing conversation about introducing more exciting rewards for players in the game. They emphasized the importance of ensuring a balance between appealing items that can be purchased and those that can be earned.
Fergusson discussed the difficulties Blizzard has encountered in recent years, especially due to the pandemic. However, he expressed satisfaction with launching three Diablo games during this time. He is optimistic about the future of Diablo as a live service, foreseeing opportunities for growth and development.
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