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When released in the month of June, the Standard Edition of Diablo 4 was sold at a price of $70. With a price point so high, players expected the costs of the in-game cosmetics to be slightly cheaper than what they are at this point in time. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Almost every cosmetic in the shop is priced above 2000 Platinum, which roughly amounts to a little over $20.
For any role-playing games (RPGs) without a pay-to-win element, cosmetics are the primary source of monetization. Although these titles do have other microtransactions, such as battle pass purchases or tier skips, they don't match the revenue generated through cosmetic purchases.
Considering that Diablo 4 is an expensive game in itself, it's understandable why the players are unhappy with the pricing of almost every cosmetic in the title.
Players are unhappy with the fact that Diablo 4 cosmetics are expensive
For context, each cosmetic in the Diablo 4 item shop is priced somewhere within the 2,200-2,500 Platinum range. The only way of acquiring this currency is by purchasing it with real money, either in-game or via the battle.net launcher.
Based on the rates mentioned by Blizzard, 1000 Platinum is priced at $9.99, whereas 2800 Platinum is priced at $24.99.
To get just 2000 Platinum, you will have to spend $19.98. However, even that won't be enough to cover the price of a single cosmetic bundle for any of your Diablo 4 characters.
To do so, you will have to either make an additional purchase of around 500 Platinum for another $4.99 or go for the 2800 Platinum purchase. Now, both these purchases raise the price of the cosmetic to over $20.
The common sentiment among players is that if one doesn't like these cosmetics, they shouldn't bother talking about it, let alone buy it.
Many players stated that there are teams who are tasked with getting the numbers on these cosmetics live, so Blizzard is definitely making a profit through these cosmetics. However, the consensus is that these cosmetics aren't even worth the price tag. That said, fans of the franchise also believe that these cosmetics are targeted at the "whales" in the community.
A similar argument arose with respect to the Destiny 2 Solstice event a few weeks back. Players were outraged with the rising prices in the Eververse Store and the paid event pass to such an extent that a few tried to rally the playerbase to boycott the event. However, many players pointed out that the general fanbase wasn't the target audience for the expensive cosmetics to begin with.
Furthermore, despite the price point, many were of the opinion that all a content creator had to do was point out that a particular piece of cosmetic looked good, and several players would purchase it. The pricing of cosmetics in live service titles like Diablo 4 has never been competitive and will never be so.
The general public was never the target audience and will probably never be the target audience. However, one can only hope that this changes in the future and Blizzard starts making good-looking cosmetics for a change.
