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Blizzard’s decision to require a persistent online connection to play Diablo III may not be so much to prevent piracy as to protect its new real-money auction house. At least that’s what Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer believes.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Schaefer explains that Blizzard’s tight restrictions for the game may be aimed at securing the integrity of the economy.

We fully understand why they're doing what they're doing. They've kind of gone the opposite way we have with an open game and modding tools and stuff like that, whereas they want to have an absolutely secure economy and preserve the complete integrity – or at least try to preserve the complete integrity – of the gameplay.

Schaefer does question why there isn’t an offline mode available given that it could easily be separated from the online characters, but is happy that it provides Runic Games’ upcoming game, Torchlight II, a further distinction from its competitor.

Learn more about Diablo III from our recent coverage.

Source: Eurogamer