Whale, whale, whale what do we have here? Blizzard is selling a $25 Hearthstone card, and users aren’t happy with the new release.
The newly revealed “Diamond card,” an evolution of the Orc Drek’Thar, has the staggering price of $24.99. You read that right, $24.99 to change the border of a digital card and add some flashy live-2d style animations to it.
News that Blizzard is selling a $25 Hearthstone card hasn’t won many members of the hearthstone community over, with Reddit users making a mockery of the announcement.
“Appropriate Battlecry: “If this costs more than every minion in your deck, summon 2 of them,” says one user. Another user appropriately said “That’s just an NFT at this point.”
“30 new expansion packs or a card I already have.. Tough choice,” said another user. Another user added, “$25 for a single cosmetic card? Am I the only one who finds that unreasonable?”
It’s worth highlighting that the original Drek’Thar card was given away by Blizzard for free, and that this diamond version of the card is a purely cosmetic upgrade meaning it does not provide any in-game benefit whatsoever, so there really is no reason to spend your money on it… unless you like shiny things.
Still, news that Blizzard is selling a $25 Hearthstone card is an attempt at targeting their whales, a term used to describe a small percentage of users that spend ridiculous amounts of money on most commonly mobile video games, and free-to-play games with cash shops.
Hearthstone is an incredibly successful free-to-play collectible card game from Blizzard Entertainment that is currently available across most modern devices, be it mobile or PC. The game features players collecting these cards creating decks and competing with each other for online glory.
The game has seen a steady player base since its launch back in 2014, but like most free-to-play games, developers must consistently update and change things up to attract new users and keep the attention of the existing player base.
Blizzard attempted that about a year ago when it announced the aforementioned “Diamond” cards to the game. These cards were the exact same as their non-diamond counterparts, other than the minor cosmetic difference of being animated and having a diamond border.
What do you think? Have you ever spent $25 on a cosmetic item? Sound off in the comments below, I’m very interested in hearing some of your stories.
