Well, it’s finally happened — Blizzard has caved and announced auction houses will no longer be a part of Diablo III starting early next year.
The controversial Diablo III auction houses allowed players to buy and sell in game items for real money, which many folks found objectionable. Others had no particular moral qualms about them, but were upset by the unbalancing effect they had on the game. Lately even Blizzard themselves haven’t seemed all that jazzed about them, removing auction houses entirely from the recently released console version of the game. Still, a lot of people just assumed Blizzard would stick to their guns and keep the auction house money flowing on the PC.
Hit the jump for a short video in which a couple Blizzard guys attempt to explain their actions in the most graceful way possible. It’s…a little awkward…
“Thank you, to all you guys in our community, for being patient…for coming along on this journey. Also, thank you for all the death threats. Yeah, thanks a whoooole f–king lot for those guys.”
Diablo III’s real money and gold auction houses will shut down on March 8th, 2014.
via Kotaku