Blizzard has announced today that the gold and real money auction houses that are currently part of Diablo III will be closing. The systems are slated for removal on March 18, 2014.

The news comes by way of a post on Blizzard's website from game director Josh Mosquiera and production director John Hight. The Loot 2.0 system coming with the Reaper of Souls expansion will bring Diablo back to its roots of monster killing and loot collection. For more, check out the video below.

No release date has been confirmed for Reaper of Souls.

[Source: Blizzard]

Our Take

This is a brilliant surprise. The auction houses have long been deemed the weakest and most debilitating part of the Diablo III experience. In fact, many people flocked to the console version partly to get away from the auction houses.

I liked everything I heard about Reaper of Souls, loot runs, and Loot 2.0 when I met with Mosquiera and art director Christian Lichtner at Gamescom. Now, Reaper of Souls looks to not only expand the Diablo III experience, but bring it back in line with the series loot hunters first fell in love with. Here's hoping this means an offline option is in the cards.