Remember the (in)famous “Don’t you guys have phones?” incident at the Diablo: Immortal unveil in 2018? Well, it looks like you’ll need more than just a phone to finish the game. Diablo: Immortal, which was marred by controversy ever since it was announced has been hit with a whole new set of controversy. 

The Blizzard Entertainment game is been criticised for its predatory microtransaction practices. Just a few days ago, a streamer by the name of Quin69 spent over $15,997 trying to get a 5-star gem. 

Quin69 isn’t alone in his grievance. Many players have taken to Reddit and Twitter to raise concerns about Diablo’s practices. For instance, to complete the game players need to unlock powerful upgrades, which are ranked from one to five stars. The highest-rated gems though can only be found by opening the Legendary Crests. 

Here lies the problem. Only three Legendary Crests are made available each month unless the players spend money and buy it from the store. Which is still fine. However, according to Forbes, there’s only a 0.05 per cent chance of getting a five-star gem from every Legendary Crest being opened. 

But what takes the cake here are the other microtransactions built into end-game content. For example, you need to spend $15 to take your legendary gem to its maximum potential, also known as the Awakening level. While you don’t necessarily need to maximise your character to beat the game, the normal non-paying way seems to be impossibly exhaustive and time-consuming. Something which has helped Blizzard earn more than $24 million on the game in just two days alone. 

Coming back to Quin69, the streamer let his frustration known to the world by destroying the 5-star gem, saying “F*** you, fucking Blizzard! Get off my computer, you don’t even deserve to stay on it. Diablo II Resurrected, you can stay. Diablo III, you’re on thin ice, but okay, I’ll allow it. Diablo Immortal? Get the f*** out of here.”

This latest in-line of the Blizzard controversy has also attracted some international attention. The game was recently pulled from sale in Belgium and the Netherlands, due to its loot box practices being considered gambling. 

(Image credits: Blizzard Entertainment)