Since its release on June 6, Diablo 4 has sold around 10 million copies. One of the people that bought a copy of the game was Oscar-winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg. After making her purchase, she sadly realized that the game was not playable on Mac—and asked for a refund.
Whoopi Goldberg first posted a video on June 7, 2023, voicing her disappointment after learning that she couldn’t play Diablo 4 on her Mac. By the way, we learned from the video that Diablo was the 67-year-old Hollywood legend’s favorite game.
“I know there are some terrible things happening in the world but what I’m about to tell you is not on any scale like that,” Whoopi Goldberg began. “This is me venting about my favorite game, Diablo, which has been taken off of Apple. I use Apple computers, that’s what I’ve always used to play Diablo… and suddenly now Diablo 4 is not available to me on my Apple computer. I already bought Diablo 4!”
ALSO READ: Diablo IV: Blizzard Used Unconventional Marketing… And It Worked
The veteran actress went further to negotiate a deal with Blizzard. “Blizzard Entertainment, this is Whoopi. You know how much I love Diablo. I would like y’all to let those of us who use our Apples to play… When you do the next launch, then you can tell everybody, ‘We are not gonna have you play if you are an Apple person who is not gonna change to something else’.”
The majority of the comments on the post were in support of her views. It would really suck if Microsoft and Sony take their console war to PC. There are probably thousands of Mac users out there that feel Whoopi Goldberg’s pinch.
Whoopi Goldberg escalates her case with Blizzard over Diablo 4
On June 17, Whoopi Goldberg called out Blizzard Entertainment for not responding to her earlier bargain. She explained that she was still upset because she was yet to hear from them and this time she was asking for a refund. Holding a bag of gummy bears, she insinuated that excluding Mac from Diablo 4 was an attempt to get people to buy Xbox.
“I understand they want me to go get this [on] Xbox, but I want my money back—if you’re not going to give me my game,” she said sitting on a chair wearing her signature dreadlocks, a white long-sleeve shirt and an Ankara print jacket over it. “What is happening with this? I feel [that] I’m nice about it, but a lot of people are upset that they did not get what they were promised.”
Whoopi Goldberg stressed that a simple note from Blizzard like, “Hey, Whoop, we’re really sorry that happened to you,” would have made a difference. Along the line, she also took a swipe at UPS for dumping her “stuff in the middle of the street”.
While some argued that she should have read the minimum game requirement before making the purchase, what really is at play here is depreciating customer service.
Customers do make mistakes that are genuinely not the fault of the manufacturer or service provider. However, good customer service necessitates that the producer or service provider reach out to anyone that has an issue with their product or service and try to offer some form of explanation.
“Somebody needs to explain what’s going on, please,” she continued. “I’m going to have my Haribo right now before I go and do my talk for AmEx. I’m just saying, we could’ve done this a little bit better Blizzard.”
EW reached out to Blizzard several times for a comment regarding the playability of Diablo 4 on Mac and the issue that Whoopi Goldberg pointed out but the gaming giant is yet to respond to all the requests.
How can you play Diablo 4 on Mac?
If you are one of those that Blizzard shut out from Diablo 4 because of your preference for Mac PC, there may be a way around it so that you continue to enjoy your favorite game. Apple recently announced the deployment of a new Game Porting Toolkit to translate games built for Windows onto MacOS. Early testers used the tool to play Cyberpunk 2077 and Diablo 4.
According to PC Gamer, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 14fps on the tool which they described as being similar to Wine for Linux or Proton for Steam Deck. At 14fps, Cyberpunk 2077 was almost impossible to play. Thankfully, Diablo 4 ran well with the tool.
ALSO READ: Diablo 4 Review: The Wait Is Over? But Wait…
Developing a form of emulator for the MacOS can greatly alter the gaming scene. Apple has not paid much attention to its PC gaming and that has been costly. Some Apple fans are forced to either get a gaming PC by the side or trade their MacOS for Windows.
“The new Game Porting Toolkit provides an emulation environment to run your existing unmodified Windows game and you can use it to quickly understand the graphics feature usage and performance potential of your game when running on a Mac,” said Aiswariya Sreenivassan, an engineering project manager for GPUs and graphics at Apple during the 2023 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
So, if you have found yourself in a similar situation where you are unable to play Diablo 4 on Mac like Whoopi Goldberg, consider getting the Game Porting Toolkit rather than taking your fight to Blizzard because they will likely not listen.
Who is the worst offender? Whoopi for not reading instructions before purchasing Diablo 4 or Blizzard for refusing to comment on the topic? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
Remember to share and bookmark this website to stay up to date on all the hottest news in the gaming industry.
