After an arduous 2018 BlizzCon where the title immediately faced scrutiny as well as some delays, Diablo Immortal finally released this past weekend for iOS and Android devices on June 2. The title also has an open beta test for PC, which will eventually lead to a full release on that platform as well. Unfortunately, it looks like the community isn’t taking to the newest entry in the franchise. The game has been getting review bombed on Metacritic, and as of this writing sits at just 0.8, the third-worst user score ever for a Blizzard title.

Diablo Immortal appears to be facing a backlash from some players, as its Metacritic user score drops to Blizzard’s third lowest ever.https://t.co/JKBk8gRF5h pic.twitter.com/WbsdJZpt4a

— VGC (@VGC_News) June 6, 2022

For those who are wondering, the two Blizzard titles that hold the 2nd and 1st spot for lowest scoring titles on the site are Warcraft III: Reforged and World of Warcraft Classic: Burning Crusade Classic with 0.6 and 0.4 respectively. This hugely negative reception stem’s from a few things, most of which is due to the recent report from Game Rant, and originally reported by YouTube channel Bellular News. The report states that fulling maxing out a single character in Diablo Immortal by purchasing Legendary Gems, which are part of the title’s monetization process, will cost around $110,000.

What makes this even worse is that Legendary Gems aren’t outright available to players. You’ll need to grind through the game and get them as drops from Legendary Crests, one of the game’s loot boxes. One of the biggest issues that players are complaining about is how the microtransaction mechanics begins to feel a bit intrusive, especially during the endgame when it continuously pushes you to get new gear. This kind of aspect is referred to as gatcha mechanic, something that is ever-present in a majority of mobile titles. Other players also refer to this as “pay to win.”

Due to these mechanics, the game did not launch in Netherlands or Belgium. Both European countries have an anti-gambling policy on titles that utilize in-game purchases for potential items that are not a guarantee. Most companies simply removed these features from their titles in order to make them readily available to their fans in those regions. Blizzard not only didn’t remove them, they also decided to not release it there at all. This, alongside the extreme negative, feedback does not help Diablo Immortal’s overall stance in the gaming community, and only hurts Blizzard’s image in general, an image that has been tarnished possibly beyond repair.