'Diablo 3' Auction House Is No More: Blizzard Entertainment Announces Shutdown

Blizzard Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it plans to shut down a feature that has long plagued the “Diablo 3” gaming experience—the Auction House.

In a Battle.net blog post by "Diablo" Franchise Production Director John Hight, he expressed that the Auction House system proved to be detrimental to the core gameplay of “Diablo 3.”

“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," Hight said.

While details of the impending Auction House shutdown are still in the works, Hight did reveal that the Auction House shutdown would occur on March 18, 2014.

Hight also explained that a revised system, named Loot 2.0, is also in development alongside the upcoming expansion for the series, “Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls.”

However, Hight explained that more details about the new Loot 2.0 system and "Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls" would not be available until BlizzCon 2013, the annual Blizzard Entertainment video game convention.

Watch the official announcement in the video above and let us know what you think about it in the comments.