10 Fan Backlashes That SAVED Video Games
4. The Auction House - Diablo III
Though Diablo III was released to positive reviews, a month after release Blizzard opened the real money auction house, where players could buy and sell in-game items for actual money.
This effectively created a gross pay-to-win economy in which players willing to shell out real cash had a major advantage over those who didn't.
The fan backlash was huge, and in conjunction with the game's always-online DRM, caused a large swath of the community to turn against both Diablo III and Blizzard entirely.
After well over a year of dogged complaints, in which even the game's own director lamented the auction house's existence, Blizzard finally announced that both the gold and real money auction houses would be closing down, and that they finally did in March 2014.
This decision, combined with the rollout of a more balanced, less grind-centric loot system, caused many fans to turn around on Diablo III and finally deem it the game it should've been at launch. Better late than never, eh?