News from Ichigo about the SK approval. Another source here and here. This was an update received by Korean news sites yesterday (Dec 28).

The GRB decision has been pushed to either "Mon, Jan 2" or "Wed, Jan 4". (They say Monday, but write the 4th.)

Apparently, there are still concerns about the Battle.net Balance gambling aspect of the RMAH, even though they cut out the cash-out function from the SK version. It's still on target for first week of January, but it appears that their deliberations were postponed again.

Will provide more updates if I can find more sources. Really, this doesn't change much though since we already knew that the first week of January was "decision week".

* UPDATE:

One of our readers understands Korean (Thanks Anonymous!), and it says "January 4th" so the decision should be made by Wednesday of next week.

It appears that Blizzard might be sick and tired of waiting, especially since players are getting really frustrated and many are now aware of what's really holding back the release.

According to sources here and here, instead of submitting documents describing the RMAH process, they're just going to cut out the real money "cashing-out" part of the Korean version instead. They want to add it later as a patch, if they can obtain approval.

(At first I thought these were just opinion pieces, but they have quotes from Blizzard and a GRB official confirming these new developments.)

Blizzard was contacted on Dec 16 and asked to provide more information about the RMAH. The original hearing for the Korean GRB was slated for Dec 21, but it was cancelled and postponed to a later date. Blizzard was given 7 days to file their additional information.

As I've noted many times in the past, they have to be really careful about what they submit so this doesn't come as a surprise at all. They've been dancing around the issue, and trying to show that "random loot" is the only gambling related activity in the game. However, the RMAH operates just like a slot machine and there is real monetary risk involved. Given only 7 days to prepare information, it was a wise decision to take more time to prepare their best documentation.. they might even rethink the RMAH process for SK specifically.

It appears that Blizzard submitted their amended request and it was received by the GRB on either Dec 21 or most likely Dec 22 (it was reported in the Korean news on Dec 23). However, they're still leaving in the RMAH but for "Battle Coins" (B.Net Bucks) only, so there won't be a way to cash out with real money. It's kind of sneaky, since it's still worth real money.. but it does demonstrate just how important it is to get Korea on board with the RMAH. They could have just cut it out altogether so that it can finally be released for all other geographies.

This is still a re-submission for approval though, and the GRB needs to review their new approach to the RMAH. The new RMAH process still actually involves random chance and possibility of losing money.. unless the Korean RMAH does not charge for Listing Fees. They're expecting to have a final decision made by the first week of January.

Coincidentally, on the day of or right after that resubmission for approval, Bashiok tweeted:

"#Diablo15 year anniversary is in 9 days! (We have a little something fun planned for the week after.) How are you going to celebrate?"

They still haven't received the GRB confirmation though, but it's expected "the week after" Diablo's anniversary.. which is the first week of January. He says "a little something fun planned", meaning that it's not supposed to be anything important like a release date but it's left open for interpretation. Strange that they're not announcing anything on the anniversary date, but rather sometime during the week AFTER. :)

If you weren't aware, Bashiok also confirmed that the GRB rating was indeed a facet responsible for their planned D3 global launch. He wrote the following, and then immediately deleted it, even though there was no reason to delete it except for the GRB comment:

#226 - 2011/12/21 05:37:00 AM

I don't know what translation you're reading but no where has it been stated the release of the game on a whole is delayed because of a GRB rating. Might it delay the game in Korea? I suppose no one knows, but we still have some time since the game is not finished. We're playing internal builds, the entire game, we'd know if it was. I'd know.

I hate it when they try to hide this stuff. I understand why though; players would be really angry if Blizzard did admit to Korea being the reason for long delays.

Some interesting new information from Bashiok.

A player asked about the possibility of the RMAH being used to buy and re-sell items from the Gold Auction House of other regions.

For example, you "lock-in" your RMAH to NA, your primary characters are on the NA servers, but you create a new character in the EU servers, buy items from their Gold Auction House, and then put up for sale on the Real Money Auction House (which is US-based.)

Bashiok made it very clear that this is not possible:

Characters are still region based. Just like Diablo II. You could log in to USWest, or USEast, or Europe, or Asia, but you had different characters on each. There's no possibility of trading between regions.

He also went on to say:

Each region is compartmentalized. Character's on one region cannot play with characters on another region. Similarly, each region has its own gold and currency-based auction houses. Only characters on a region can use that region's auction houses (and of course a restriction from the currency-based if it's not your home region).

Here is the original source of all of these citations, although the top link is probably your best source now because Blizzard has gone through and deleted many of Bashiok's (and user's) posts regarding the Korea/RMAH Gambling delay being the primary reason for the D3 global launch.

What Bashiok (Community Manager) wrote, though, directly contradicts with what Robert Bridenbecker (VP of Online Technologies) said in an interview. More details about that interview here and here.

Robert said that you're locked into your own RMAH, but you can still access the Gold Auction Houses of whatever region you're logged in to (even if it's not your own). When you pull up the RMAH window, while logged into another region, you only see the RMAH from your home country.

"If you say you're from the US, we're going to treat you like you're a US player and wherever you connect in the world, we will enforce you as a US player. If you say you're from Korea, the same thing applies."

Bashiok, however, is saying that if you login to other realms you can only use their Gold Auction Houses. Which means you can only pull up your RMAH menu while on your home region, and it simple won't be an available feature if you're logged into another region.

So, which one is it?

Some of you wanted to know why I have been questioning if Digital Downloads will be available for Diablo 3 or not. So, I thought I would explain this further.

At Blizzcon, it was already announced that WOW Annual Pass members will receive a Digital Copy of the game, much like Cataclysm, and they can play it immediately upon the game's launch.

However, this has only been made official for WOW Annual Pass members. There hasn't been any word on a Digital Download for everyone else yet (AFAIK).

Digital Content

Activision Blizzard has heavily been pushing Digital Content delivery and it's critical to their revenue and growth (in less than 5 years, digital revenue could overtake their retail revenue). So, it makes perfect sense for D3 (and all future games) to be available for digital pre-download.

If Digital Downloads are available to all customers, it "should" be announced pretty quickly after the release date announcement (or even on the same day.) And, the Digital Pre-Download "should" be made available at least 1 month before the official release date. (Users will also need at least 1 month to prepare their B.Net/PayPal integration as well. The B.Net Balance will be available towards the end of December and if things go well with the GRB, the B.Net PayPal integration will be announced early-mid January along with the release date.)

On A Related Note..

The new RMAH/B.Net Balance system is currently holding back the announcements of other Digital Content and Paid Services as well. After the RMAH is established, Blizzard will roll out the Map Marketplace (Arcade) where players can also sell maps or mods for "nominal fees."

So, while Diablo 3 users are selling items on the Auction House and building up a B.Net Balance account, Starcraft 2 players will also be doing the same.

After all of this money starts flowing into player's B.Net Balance accounts, that's when Blizzards strikes. :)

Examples include, but are not limited to; new Blizzard Store items, new Paid Services, a lot of new virtual items, Blizzard-made SC2 maps and content, DLC, sale promotions (cheaper games that can only be bought from the Blizzard store), classic games finally available, and eventually a full integration of Activision's suite of games. These announcements are all being saved up for a later time.

Players will be able to make money playing D3 or SC2, and buy the latest COD game from the "Activision Blizzard Store" or whatever they re-brand the Store or Battle.net as. Not only that, but all of Activision's paid services and DLC will also be made available. (They might even have transferable credits between the Activision and Blizzard "Stores", for another "nominal fee".)

Second Guessing Digital Downloads

The reason why I'm second guessing Digital Downloads for Diablo 3 is because it's a delicate and complicated bitch. Diablo 3 is their first "region free" game and they're being really quiet about it.. so there must be a reason.

I think that Blizzard wants Diablo 3 to seem like a normal region-locked game, so that players follow the same purchasing patterns.

You see.. when you buy Diablo 3, you can buy it anywhere in the world, and play it anywhere in the world. This means that Australians could purchase the Digital Copy in the US and save themselves $40 or more. Any other countries with ridiculous prices could also purchase the digital version from the cheapest country they can find. :)

There's a lot about this subject but there's no nice way of organizing it, so I'll just use bullet points for easier reading:

• If Blizzard were to make this publicly known right now, players could just cancel their pre-orders and wait for the Digital Download instead. They would be screwing over their retailers.
• Blizzard also doesn't want WOW Annual Pass members to know this, because they're already "purchasing Diablo 3" based on their own region's monthly fees. These players don't know they can get a much better deal waiting for the Digital Download. Blizzard wants to make sure as many players are locked in as possible before revealing just how cheap Diablo 3 will really be since you can purchase it from any region.
• When (if) Blizzard does announce the full Digital Pre-Download, I suspect that they'll keep it very simple, low key, and leave out certain details. They'll just say "go into your Battle.net account to see the price and order the game", but they won't remind you that it's a Region Free game, they won't share regional prices, and they'll ban discussions about how you could just create a new B.Net account in a different region to buy it.
• This is also why they restrict your purchasing methods. Even with this whole PayPal & Blizzard partnership and systems integration, have you ever asked yourself why they still haven't allowed PayPal for Blizzard Store purchases?
• I'm predicting that the new Battle.net Balance will allow a "wide variety of debit and credit cards", but they still won't let you charge it up with PayPal (under certain conditions). Even though PayPal is fully integrated with their system already. If they prevent you from using a global-friendly payment system, they can charge you extra for "regional purchases".. even though they're not actually region locked games. To bypass this, they could make a deal with PayPal and use their own systems to restrict purchases regionally (even though this isn't the systems original intention), that way PayPal can be used, but heavily restricted.
• I also suspect that you won't be able to purchase and give the gift to a friend. The digital version of Cataclysm (and other games) are transferable right now, meaning that they're not locked to a Battle.net account. Diablo 3 will probably be different on launch day.
• All of this is connected and Blizzard has thought well and hard on this. (I've only thought on it while typing this, so I can only imagine what a team of marketing professionals and seasoned businessmen have considered.)

I suspect that they're going to make it as hard for you as possible to take advantage of this region-free special bonus. There will be restrictions in place for an unrestricted game (yes, that's weird and unfair if true). And, I suspect they won't let people really know about the "region free" aspects of the game until sometime AFTER the launch date.

This is why I'm curious how they're going to handle this. If Digital Downloads are available before the launch, they have to cover up a lot of things.. which is why there's a small part of me questioning DD's even though it makes sense to release them just like Cataclysm. :)

This is why I'm thinking that the Digital Download might be delayed or rushed in the sense that people won't be given the same amount of time they were for the Cataclysm DD. The idea is to give gamers no time to think about it and to act quickly (while also not being told the whole truth.)

It's much like the limited time offer for the WOW Annual Pass. Gamers rushed out to purchase the package without considering the consequences, and now forums are filling up with posts of regret.

If you want to break it all down: I'd say that 80% of me believes that the Digital Pre-Download will be available at least 1 month before the release date but details will be kept very low key, and the region-free aspects will be left out (and moderated on the forums). The other 20% of me suspects that there might be something strange about this release like a condensed "act fast" time frame. It wouldn't make logical sense (for the customer) for the Digital Download to be made available after the launch, after all. I'm certain, though, that there will be some kind of restrictions in place preventing as many users as possible from taking advantage of better pricing.

Apparently, incgamers borrowed some more original content from this blog. Check out their latest post here. This time though, it was an entire copy & paste job from here. :)

Linking the source sure would be nice, rather than just saying "it came from some random internet user". Plus, their readers should be aware that it was an inexperienced translation that I did myself and not an official translation by Blizzard. :)

Azzure doesn't believe the game is delayed due to the RMAH in Korea because it's only one regional server and should not affect any other regions.

However, I wanted to clear this up.

This is the belief of many, and it's the strongest argument being used by forum users; i.e. Blizzard wouldn't just hold back all regions if they could simply turn off the RMAH in Korea or just not release the game there. (This is one item I forgot to mention in the "What's Really Holding Diablo 3 Back" post, but it's so old now, I'm not going to go back and update it when I can just post my thoughts here.)

Before I get started, here's an older post and video with Robert Bridenbecker that might help explain the real issues.

You see.. even though there are regional servers and there is a RMAH for each region, the users themselves are not restricted as to what region they play in or what RMAH they use.

It's not something simple as disabling the RMAH in each region. It's a player issue, and if Korea is not approved, this actually becomes a user account logistical nightmare for both Blizzard and PayPal.

Diablo 3 will be Blizzard's first "region free" game. As Robert explained, "When you buy Diablo 3, you're buying Diablo 3." You can play it anywhere in the world, it's not region locked, and players can select any server they want, any language they want, and play on that region's RMAH. There are no barriers or currency restrictions. Whichever region you play on, you're locked into that region's currency. That's it. :)

(* UPDATE: Just a clarification. When you first install the game, you're "locked" into a specific region's RMAH but you can change it later if you can provide "proof" that you moved.. like a scanned photo ID. You can still play in any region and also use any Gold Auction House, but you're "locked" with the one RMAH that you selected first.)

It's all very cool actually. It means that Australian players can buy D3 from the US Website for a reasonable price and can start playing right away on their own region based servers. (You know.. now that I'm talking about it, this is assuming that Digital Downloads will be made available. I wonder if Blizzard won't have DD's this time around for D3 because of the price point difference in other countries?)

Do you see where this could become a major problem?

Even if the RMAH is disabled in Korea (and they only have a Gold Auction House), what's to stop Korean players from just participating in the Real Money Auction Houses in other regions?

Blizzard needs to have advanced security precautions in place to prevent Korean citizens from accessing ALL RMAH's on all regions. And, what about Americans traveling abroad? They still need to adhere to local laws too! :)

Not just Americans, but I'm talking about ANY nationality that travels to Korea. If they're physically in Korea, they must obey their laws and regulations. And the problem here is that any visitors can use VPN services that makes it look like they're connecting from another country, even though they're physically in Korea.

This... is... HUGE.

Are you beginning to see just how critical it is that they receive approval in Korea? They need approvals in EVERY country too.

Not only that, but there are other factors to consider:

1. If the game is rejected, Blizzard's best option is to simply not allow Korean users to play the game. This makes playing the game illegal in the country, and since Blizzard would not be supporting it, they can't be held liable for Korean players playing the game. It would be the government's responsibility to crack down on it.

2. They would need to make a new D3 game for Korea specifically, pushing back their release date by several months. It would be a region locked version of D3, with Korean-only servers. A different version of D3 that all other countries would be using.

3. PayPal also needs to manage all of this. They need to watch bank accounts, incoming/outgoing transactions to make sure they're not from Korea, monitor visitors logs.. all to make sure D3 isn't being illegally used in Korea. Korean players could easily RMAH-lock themselves onto an outside region. It doesn't matter, though, if they're Korean but located outside of Korea.

4. How can you prevent Korean players or minors from playing the game? Account information can easily be faked (in China, many players just use their relative's ID cards to register so that they avoid the age restrictions). Korean players can simply say they're based in Russia or China, and use any of thousands of proxy/VPN services available.

5. Blizzard wants a simultaneous launch in all regions with the same features. Diablo 3 is the same game everywhere, as Robert explained. You can play it anywhere in the world.

6. There might be other things happening at the same time that coincide with the launch that are important. For example, everyone setting up PayPal accounts in advance or Digital Downloads.

7. They want all players to start using the RMAH immediately upon launch. It's critical to the future success of the game, they want players to start using it right away, they need numbers to prove it's success to their shareholders (and justify why the subscription model was not used), and it's also not a good idea to add it as a new feature in a future content patch.

8. What if a Korean RMAH-locked account is outside of Korea, but they continue to use a Korean-based IP address? :) Will sending in proof of relocation be sufficient, how do they confirm it's real if they're still coming from (what it appears to be) Korea? Managing all of this will be brutal, and probably not something currently prepared for (leaving #1 or #2 above as their best options).

9. One country alone can cause D3 to be completely redesigned from scratch, making Diablo 3 a region-locked game and throwing them back to the drawing board on the Real Money Auction House and their relationship with PayPal.

The big one, though, is restricting users in Korea from accessing any other region.. which is not how the game was designed. Blizzard providing and supporting gambling illegally in another country would be very bad. And, as I've said, the game can only be pushed back so far. If there are more delays in January, expect options #1 or #2. There are substantial pros and cons to having a "region free" game. :)

I hope other publishers or developers are following this. If they intend to create new real money trading systems for their own games, as alternatives to the dying subscription model, they need to consider all of the potential issues.