'Diablo 3' Lets Gamers Sell Digital Loot For Real Money

Online gaming can be an expensive habit.

That will become increasingly true when game developer Blizzard Entertainment launches the hotly anticipated Diablo 3, which will let players bid for in-game items with real-world money.

The new Diablo 3 "auction house" will charge sellers to put their loot under the hammer, with an additional flat fee for each successful sale.

Blizzard's hugely popular World of Warcraft is known for its thriving underground economy, where rare items change hands for hundreds of dollars at a time. "Gold farming", the practice of gathering and selling in-game currencies for a profit, was already a $2 billion a year industry in 2009, according World Bank figures.

Blizzard has consistently opposed trading for cash in World of Warcraft, but with Diablo 3, the company seems to have embraced the practice and decided to take a cut of their own. With sales expected to pass well into the millions, real money auctions could become a steady source of extra income both for Blizzard and dedicated players.

So far, no official release date has been announced for the game.

Check out a trailer for "Diablo 3" (below).

WATCH:

Comments

[Add In Canadia]

02:29 AM on 08/07/2011

Games these days seem to be all about the micro transactions. Doesn't really answer the bigger question of "will it be fun?" Regardless, I'm sure they'll be a few people who will be able to play the money game and be able to make a fair amount from it; course with every transaction Blizzard gets to skim off the top, so it's more that people will be making money for Blizzard.

[zxrod]

01:38 PM on 08/03/2011

Only been waiting for this game for a decade, how about a release date?!

[hungrypilot]

02:32 PM on 08/03/2011

Beta will be in full kickoff after Blizzcon this year, as I'm sure that's what the cards will give people keys to after it's over. I'm guessing November/December release, especially since official Blizzard marketing schedules showed Q4 2011.

[markIDGCONNECT]

10:00 AM on 08/03/2011

I'm perplexed as to why anyone would want to pay for in-game items. Isn't part of the intrigue when playing an RPG the chance of stumbling on to really rare items?

Mark at http://www.idgconnect.com/blog

[Bruce Negron]

12:49 PM on 08/03/2011

And then selling them on the Auction house or keeping them.

[Solo6383]

08:53 AM on 08/03/2011

This isn't new. I remember back in the Diablo II days people would sell items and accounts on eBay. This just makes it in-game.

[garder54]

08:17 AM on 08/03/2011

Take an illegal activity, make it legal and regulate it. Blizzard has figured it out, why can't the American government!

[hungrypilot]

09:14 AM on 08/03/2011

I missed the illegal mentioning in the article.

[Marc NL]

10:03 AM on 08/03/2011

In Warcraft "gold farming" or selling gold for real money is illegal.

[TomInJax]

11:41 AM on 08/03/2011

I would say illegal and being against the EULA, which on one ever reads, are two different things.

[Spartan Ideal]

02:31 AM on 08/03/2011

For Diablo 2, there were many sites that specialized in selling in-game items for cash. Many of them were credit-card scams.

Regulating it and taking a slice of the pie doesn't seem like a bad thing.

[Makempay]

08:28 AM on 08/03/2011

Yeah I was going to say, they were doing this in like 2002 with Diablo II even. Pathetic, but this just isn't really breaking news, other than the new "convenience fee" part if you want protection from scams.

[hungrypilot]

09:15 AM on 08/03/2011

It doesn't seem like a bad thing now. I hope it doesn't over-encourage farming and exploiting to the point that the game becomes upsetting. I've been looking forward to this for 10 years! ^_^

[Spartan Ideal]

01:02 PM on 08/03/2011

Reports from the early beta suggest it's awesome, though a few key areas seem dramatically different than DII.

[lhanderson86]

04:58 PM on 08/02/2011

Self employed gamers! Do what you love, and the money will come!! Good for them.