Great Product UX Alone Is Not Enough: Diablo Immortal Pay to Win CX Fail

[@vaexperience]

Love the varied perspectives in the comments. That's what experience design is about - what are your thoughts on this latest development?

[@thiagodmxtube]

Amazing analysis. It's saddening that the game industry still try to push this model into their customers.

[@themore-you-know]

The full UX starts with how you even hear about it. Because no grocery's milk is enjoyable if the diary aisle is past the crackhead hangout and only advertised by your local pimp.

[@craigvanwiechen679]

I agree that in this scenario the developers made assumptions about their users. Since prior to this mobile game they enjoyed games that had no micro transactions. Seeing the presentation clips again it was clear that they assumed any player would automatically accept a mobile product, without asking the users first.

[@vaexperience]

Yes, but to avoid this they could just targeted a different market segment without going to the hardcore fans who care less about mobile. It's that lack of awareness of who their current customers are and that they either need to bin the mobile idea or target different people/different events/potential different regions/generations etc.

[@mrgrimm4169]

This one should be interesting 😊

[@shauryasaxena13]

No Mans Sky did amazingly well after they had launched. They got bad pr but then listened to the community and improved the game. They are still going strong on that front. Games like diablo mobile just shows that the companies only care about short term gains.

[@uxdeya7660]

Amazing analysis

[@madllab8118]

Hello, interesting analysis, haha, i have recommended game asian game, very popular in asia, ragnarok title, but this ragnarok next generation is exception, if you want, you can share your perpective in ux cx, the game already have a system like a stock market exchange inside, 1 server with many sub server, can exchange item with price that we can setting, thats new

[@AlexeyShort]

What if you wrong? Like Henry Ford told - you want faster horses and bigger cabins. What if developers are correct to go full mobile?

[@vaexperience]

They are correct to go after the new audience. Not after existing fan base as per evidenced feedback and community reception

[@AlexeyShort]

@@vaexperience new? The question who is new audience? The same old Diablo audience in the future state? Or new audience who never saw Diablo at the current state? Or both new and old in the future? I can see reaction of farmer who see the modern car)))) Anyway - maybe devops not that wrong, because i see this trend through all gaming industry. They want it and they getting it despite the core pc gamers.

[@vaexperience]

@@AlexeyShort as per my video - user research would answer who is the audience and how to approach them right.

[@AlexeyShort]

@@vaexperience user research is like weather. You can take an umbrella but it doesn't mean there will be a rain to use it. I don't think they havent done research. They have more data than all Diablo community, like you can see info about your videos in analytics. Not everything should be human centered and user friendly. Also not everything should be curent human centered.

[@themore-you-know]

Question: - isn't it bad UX to prevent users from gaining 800% value ?

[@vaexperience]

Depends on a lot of things: who defines that value and in what terms, at what cost, what does it do to the gaming community and loyal customers, and also if users need that interpreted value.

[@WalkWithFetiz]

As a PM and diablo 2&3 fan, I don't think it is a failure. The aim users are not our classic blizzard fans. So I don't think the CX is a fail or something. It just hurt our fans feeling. The old blizzard shouldn't be like this. Netease use their own way to make a shit and present to us. We player have choices. And the free players are one of the pay-to-win players UX.

[@vaexperience]

I think we can then agree that Blizzard need to to target a different audience and in different ways. The fans aren't happy and that's a signal of a mismatch between what they offer and what the fans need. That's the only side to the failure for me. I think they need to reflect and be honest about who the product is for and who it isn't.

[@Diogatos]

Lack of user research. I'm not sure about that. This is probably the first time the Diablo franchise is hit like this. But the World of Warcraft community has been facing similar problems from expansion to expansion. Problems have been discussed and highlighted by the community, but Blizzard never did anything. Blizzard is now known for not listening to players and their bad design choices. It's as if they skipped the whole UX/CX part and went directly into making persuasive (more like manipulative at some points) design choices. On another note, would love to see a video or two about UX in the gaming industry (seems pretty bare to be honest) and UX-ing for video games.

[@NotoriusMaximus]

Whales will be whales. One of the reasons to stay away from gaming job offers. Dark patterns in the finest

[@MKPrive]

Seriously. It’s all dark patterns these days. Used to want to work in gaming and now between the sexism accusations and the corrupting financial influences leading to bad decisions, I stay clear.

[@JustSuss]

It's chinese business model for mobile games, Blizzard is trying to apply this system because is more profitable. People are paying, so they don't see the problem.

[@vaexperience]

Absolutely, and it makes sense to make money if it's flowing in. In the long run these models will be the norm (and arguably are already in place anyways), but worth reflecting on how the audience will shift or naturally be replaced by a different type of players who might not stick around for as much as the previous one's did.

[@aminumuhammad4561]

cough cough where r the hacker....

[@MKPrive]

Micro transactions and battle passes on top of a $65+ game is ruining gaming. Everyone knows this is bad UX, but the gaming industry has been financialized and corrupted by consolidation. I miss the days of unlocking something for free through skill. Just look at Halo, and the debacle of their poor multiplayer UX with terrible XP system. They lost the majority of their player base within weeks of launch, and have the audacity to expect people will buy another season pass.

[@rubyanka360]

Why is there no Turkish in automatic translation? :((

[@maryjasonful]

Can’t believe this shit policies are from a big game company

[@vaexperience]

Maybe the keyword here is big... it's very common to lose touch with their true fans when the companies scale out of proportion

[@SuperHammerX]

I got the battle pass

[@MrOtter-jr6ps]

FarmVille 2

[@2mnyshp]

Good usability, bad user experience.

[@synthpill7409]

I quit after the level caps and the trolls who join a dungeon and then leave. Equipping anything legendary doesn't make you feel strong at all just cosmetic and no player improvement so all you suckers got ripped. peace out

[@50shadesofcc27]

I was looking forward to this game... unfortunately the p2w makes is unbelievably unbalanced. Just horrible adaptation. Uninstalled on my device.

[@joshuaj4903]

A player who plays D III for 3000 hours could = $49.99 A player who plays WOW for 10 years could = 10*12*25.06+all the expansion he/she bought = less than $4,000. As a formal WOW player, I do feel sad. Success is a complex metric. If we use the simplest value to measure it, it changes the game. People who love the game, who are hard core, who spend countless hours in the game, do not mean they will pay for it (or pay a lot...). I grow up in China, and I witnessed so many games, which have a lot of potential, die due to monetization issues. I think this is the consequence of pure ethics, believing people will buy in as long as the game is good. On the other hand, the most successful video game that exists in Chinese history, is a, no surprise, P2W game. If the market and human weakness demand a pay-to-win model, why keep investing and developing THE BEST P2W model is not the right thing to do? I played a lot of P2W games, I even lead a guild in one of them before. People complained about the model but kept investing to get on the top or win. So, what are fighting for? Is it really the game? The module? or our own weakness? Let's do simple math if $100,000 makes one person "complete" this game, then each completion = 2000 users who purchase the Diablo III ($49.99) OR 25 players who played WOW for 10 Years, how about that? Not to mention the game allow people to play freely. The ratio can easily break the 5000 or 10,000 mark. The in-game competition can lead to more and heavier spending, one heavy spender could mean more than 100,000 users, again, how about that? Allow me to use a quote from one of the TV shows I like: "There are two gold nuggets (People who use the product and people who pay for the product) here, you told me right now, which one is clean, and which one is filthy." Why can't we have both "Gold nuggets"? I put out a harsh opinion because I really want you to talk a little bit about the ethics in UX (not the dark pattern), I use to work with a behavioural scientist, whom I'm so honoured to work with, and he is a very ethical man, but ethics did not bring him the money. If we need to work, we need to eat, we need to exist, how ethical we should be? Where is the line?

[@vaexperience]

Hey absolutely. I think the lesson for Blizzard and many other game producers is to make sure to know their audience well and if they make these bold moves target the new audience without confusing their existing fans. Mobile, P2W is not a bad thing if a certain customer doesnt' mind it, but if it pisses off the fans you pretend to target then it's a big problem. Those fans then influence the community and as a result impact those people who wouldn't mind.