Diablo III's auction house has not been the storming success intended - and Blizzard has now revealed that both the in-game gold and real-money side of the auction house will be removed from the game next year. Blizzard's John Hight had the following comments.
"When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.
We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls will result in a much more rewarding game experience for our players."
The question is if this move comes too late or if players have abandoned Diablo III for good.