From John Hight:
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. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we’ve decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.
This is a welcome surprise. The real money auction house was an interesting experiment, but ultimately I believe it’s suited for more online driven games like World of Warcraft or other MMO’s. I doubt we’ve seen the last of this idea. regardless, I love everything I’ve been hearing about Reaper of Souls so far. As I said in the past, Diablo II didn’t really hit it’s stride until Lord of Destruction. With Reaper of Souls trying to return to it’s roots, I hope we see the same success Diablo II’s expansion had.
John Hight