Diablo III's most despised feature will soon be no more. Blizzard has just announced that they're stripping the game's controversial auction houses, effective on March 18, 2014.


This is a surprising move for the folks behind the third Diablo, which has dealt with heavy criticism since it first launched last summer. The real-money auction house, which allowed players to buy and sell in-game items for actual cash, had been criticized for encouraging a pay-to-win atmosphere, in which people could max out their credit cards to max out their characters. The point of Diablo, many fans have argued, is to earn virtual loot, not cheat for it.

Now it seems the company regrets that decision, and they're taking a big step to fix things. Here's Blizzard: