Diablo 4 has earned Blizzard around $150 million from in-game microtransactions since its release in June 2023, according to senior product manager Harrison Froeschke.
Froeschke mentioned in his LinkedIn account, which is no longer publicly available, that he led the monetization strategy of the store cosmetics, pricing, bundle offers, personalized discounts, and roadmap planning, resulting in over $150 million in microtransaction lifetime revenue. Froeschke also claimed that he oversaw game sales resulting in over $1 billion total lifetime revenue.
These numbers not only indicate Diablo 4’s success but also the commercial impact of making the game available for no additional cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Blizzard confirmed Diablo 4 had generated a significant amount of money in just five days.
Microsoft recently announced sweeping changes to Xbox Game Pass, which includes removing day-one releases as a benefit to subscribers of the service’s revised basic tier. This new tier, known as Game Pass Standard, is now live. However, subscribers are missing out on more than just new releases, as Microsoft has pulled access to over 40 previously available games.
Some of the major titles that are no longer available include Starfield and Hellblade 2. These changes have significant implications for gamers and the gaming industry as a whole.