Diablo IV, the 2023 online-only action RPG from Blizzard Entertainment that is the first in the series to be set in an open world, continues to be a major money maker for Activision Blizzard, according to new details for the game that have been shared by Blizzard senior product manager Harrison Froeschke, including what is said to be over $150 million in microtransaction sales. Froeschke, who originally shared the information on Linkedin but has now deleted his profile entirely, also mentioned that the game has made over $1 billion in total lifetime revenue.
Froeschke’s accomplishments include:
- “Leading the monetization strategy of the store cosmetics, pricing, bundle offers, personalized discounts, and roadmap planning which have driven over $150M MTX lifetime revenue.”
- “Executed every step of game sales since game pre-order to the first expansion by configuring and collaborating with other teams resulting in over $1B total lifetime revenue.”
- “Collaborating with IP Stakeholders to bring in popular franchises into the world of Diablo via themed engagement incentives and cosmetics based on popular characters.”
- “Designing and implementing the use of detailed data tags for all store products to not only enable a more powerful recommendation engine, but also allowing for better toggles for data dashboards.”
- “Training other Product Managers all the tools and procedures needed to operate the shop and battle pass successfully, including contention plans and contact lists.”
The original word from the senior product manager:
Blizzard on one of the major changes that’s coming with the next season of Diablo IV:
World Tiers have been changed to Difficulties, a new way to control your challenge and reward. The first 4 Difficulties—known as Standard Difficulties—are Normal, Hard, Expert, and Penitent. The purpose of Standard Difficulties tiers is to temper your character while you strive to hit character Level 60, the new maximum.
Making it to the new Torment Difficulties is the mark of a veteran warrior—this is where the endgame truly begins. In Torment Difficulties, your progression is directly linked to the Pit. As you strive to higher Pit Tiers, the Torment Difficulty you have access to will also increase. The higher the Torment Difficulty, the more likely you are to encounter Legendary and Ancestral item drops.