Diablo III Auction Houses Shutting Down in March 2014 By Stephanie Mlot September 17, 2013 04:03pm ES VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY Game maker Blizzard today announced plans to shut down its Diablo III auction houses early next year. Players have until March 18, 2014, to get their affairs in order before the auction houses go dark. The in-game auction houses were developed in late 2011 with the intent of curbing inconvenient and unsafe methods for acquiring game gear. Those who wanted to trade or purchase items in previous versions of Diablo had to either advertise via Battle.net or purchase pieces on third-party sites. Accessible from anywhere in the game, the auction houses feature items sold via a shared stash or from an individual character inventory. If an item fails to sell, it is returned to the seller's stash, though Blizzard collects a small transaction fee. Diablo III VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY But, over time, what was meant to be a safe house for convenient and secure trading has become a double-edged sword, Diablo III production director John Hight said. Despite their benefits, the houses ultimately undermined Diablo's core game play: killing monsters to earn cool stuff. "We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls will result in much more rewarding game experience for our players," Hight said. Both versions — the real-world currency and in-game gold — will shutter in six months. The real-money auction house got off the ground only about a year ago, following months ofdelays, initially caused by server problems with Diablo III. Gamers can expect more details from Blizzard in the future, and should keep an eye out during November's BlizzCon event on Nov. 8-9 in Anaheim, Calif. Check out the video below for further details about Blizzard's decision to close the Diablo III auction houses. For more, see PCMag's review of Diablo III and the slideshow above.