A law firm has now launched an investigation into Blizzard Entertainment’s latest free-to-play video game Diablo Immortal focusing on a certain in-game purchase.
Blizzard Entertainment allegedly misrepresented the effects of the purchasable item called Blessing of the Worthy gem, which is now the center of this investigation. The firm investigating is Migliaccio and Rathod LLP and might become a class action lawsuit if they find conclusive evidence.
Diablo Immortal misled players with Blessing of the Worthy Gem
According to media outlet Polygon, the Blessing of the Worthy gem originally had a description stating it would grant a 20 percent chance to deal damage to enemies that amounted to 12 percent of the player’s maximum life. This has since been changed in order to accurately reflect the item’s true capabilities.
The new description now states that the gem would grant a 20 percent chance to deal damage to enemies that amounted to 12 percent of the player’s CURRENT life and not the maximum. This meant the gem would be rendered useless if the life of the player goes lower.
This was just a minor issue and would have been easily changed, but the problem was its availability since it was purchasable with real money. Many players paid good money to get this gem, which tricked them with a false description. It was understandable that a lot of gaming community members were angry with Blizzard.
In a reddit post, Blizzard announced that an update to the item’s description was introduced. The team also gave away a set of free gems as compensation for those affected.
Here’s a post from the law firm on their official website, officially launching their investigation:
Rather than offer refunds or some form of compensation, Blizzard has instead responded to the Blizzard community by stating that they will change the item’s text description to reflect its actual effect, at level three. This practice essentially amounts to a bait-and-switch, since a purchasable item was advertised with one effect that players wanted and ended up with something completely different.
The law firm is now asking players who got affected by this in-game purchase and would want to share their experience. They can answer an online questionnaire so they could evaluate their potential claims.