Diablo III becomes the fastest-selling PC game in history

Shawn Knight

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Despite a number of server-related issues surrounding the launch of Diablo III and the general displeasure of the “always-online” model, the title has become the fastest-selling PC game ever. Blizzard sold 3.5 million copies of the game within the first 24 hours of its release.

Additionally, Blizzard handed out 1.2 million copies to people that signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass. Gamers were guaranteed a free copy of the game on launch day when signing up for a 12-month WoW subscription.

And since the launch, another 1.6 million games have been sold for a total of 6.3 million copies out in the wild. As one might expect, both Amazon and GameStop have said that the title was one of their biggest PC launches ever. This figure doesn’t include success from Internet gaming rooms. The Verge points out that nearly 40 percent of gamers in Korea are playing Diablo III.

"We're definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo 3 and jump in the moment it went live," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo 3 players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support."

Diablo III’s early success wasn’t a huge surprise as the developer revealed earlier this month that it had become the most pre-ordered Blizzard game in history. Blizzard hosted a closed beta for several months and even made a small section of the game available for anyone to try roughly a month before the official launch to load test the servers. It seems that these preparations weren't enough as launch day problems have been well documented.

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Fastest selling, okay. Fine. Just goes to show how easily people today will relinquish control for the "latest and greatest."

Seriously? Forcing you to sign in to a separate service JUST to play single player campaigns? That's bullshit. And the blizz dude telling us being on a plane is not the time to be playing the game we pay for?

**** blizzard.
 
This is one of those cases I love showing up to people whenever they say things like:

"This is not a true Diablo II successor", "this game is boring", or more prominently: "None of my friends liked the game", "X amount of my friends returned it", or "After such reviews people are not going to buy this game."

Turns out, there are hundreds of millions of people in the world. What happens around you is monumentally irrelevant.

Alternatively, I am one of those people. But difference is I know when what I think I know should actually be used as a generalization of others. Just like you read and hear people complaining about CoD being a piece of **** every iteration, each new game manages to outsell the previous. That, for one, doesn't mean sales say how good the game is, but it also doesn't mean gaming is dead; it means that your standards (which are, in the most objective sense, not <I>the</I> standards) are very different from the vast majority.

On the other hand, whether these standards have been lowered to favor console-ports, 4-hour long campaign, and bug-riddled games that the "console generation" seems to be less and less worried about is something of much debate in the gaming community. But it also raises the question: who is at fault here? Clearly these companies don't have to create (which to them means spend) another Half-Life. Where do we draw the line here? Who should be to blame? Those who demand less of these companies, or companies who do nothing but to supply?
 
<p>This is one of those cases I love showing up to people whenever they say things like:</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>"This is not a true Diablo II successor", "this game is boring", or more prominently: "None of my friends liked the game", "X amount of my friends returned it", or "After such reviews people are not going to buy this game."</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Turns out, there are hundreds of millions of people in the world. What happens around you is monumentally irrelevant.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Alternatively, I am one of those people. But difference is I know when what I think I know should actually be used as a generalization of others. Just like you read and hear people complaining about CoD being a piece of **** every iteration, each new game manages to outsell the previous. That, for one, doesn't mean sales say how good the game is, but it also doesn't mean gaming is dead; it means that your standards (which are, in the most objective sense, not <I>the</I> standards) are very different from the vast majority.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>On the other hand, whether these standards have been lowered to favor console-ports, 4-hour long campaign, and bug-riddled games that the "console generation" seems to be less and less worried about is something of much debate in the gaming community. But it also raises the question: who is at fault here? Clearly these companies don't have to create (which to them means spend) another Half-Life. Where do we draw the line here? Who should be to blame? Those who demand less of these companies, or companies who do nothing but to supply?</p>

tl;dr lol
 
<p>Robin: So Batman, what games are you looking forwa-</p>
<p>*slap*</p>
<p>Batman: Gaming is DEEEEEEEEEEAD</p>

I agree with batman. People who think gaming isn't dead haven't played some of the greatest games of all time. Ironically, because of graphics. Check out Freespace 2 and the source code project.

I wonder how much of the yearly WoW subscriptions influenced this.

gaming today is:
"OMG, you hear about this new game?!"
"No, but I'm going to pre-order it!"
Then the game comes out so the developers and publishers already made their money. Then it's time to make another game to steal peoples cash.
 
First the economy, then again nuclear warheads and eminent wars, then they're forcing Greece to bankrupt and EU to death, then windows 8, now Diablo 3, omg! the world is breaking into pieces!!!
 
Why is there only negative reviews here? Cause everyone else is asleep on their desks so they can pull yet another allnighter playing diablo!!

Sure the game has some issues with disconnects and constant online stuff bla bla. Those don't even come close to keep me from clicking till my finger hurts! The game is loads of fun and will most likely just get better and better with some expantions.
 
So, what I take from this article is... there's 6.3++ million sellouts out there. Thanks for ensuring the continued life of Blizzard's newly adopted shitty business practice. Way to go, everyone!
 
"We're definitely thrilled that so many suckers around the world were duped in to picking up their copy of Diablo 3 and be delayed for days in the moment it went live," said Mike Morhaime

..pretty sure that was the unwashed original text.
 
This is very dandy and all but it just shows how bad the PC gaming scene has become.

Top down click-a-thon titles have never really been the most popular on the PC.

Next year PC gamers will be salivating over the next release of Solitaire or Minesweeper.

Tough times.
 
Garbage sells, Activision knows this very well.

The people complaining about the game are complaining about the fact that they've made it bland and brainless so it appeals to a wider audience. It strays from the Diablo series severely and only continues the story. It's still a hack and slash, but they got in bed with Activision and the results speak for themselves. Of course it's going to sell like hotcakes, have heard about this game named Call of Duty? Activision is the king at making instant gratification bland mainstream games that will sell faster than you can stock the shelves (digital shelves in this case). Most people can't see the forest for the trees and open their mouth wide for the shovel full of crap.

We know this.
 
@Guest on May 24, 2012 at 6:28AM:
You have no clue what you're talking about:
Most popular pc games of all time include: Fallout 1 and 2, Starcraft, Baldurs Gate 2, Sim City 2000, Age of Empires 2, Civilization IV, Warcraft 2 and 3, World of Warcraft... I'm not sure if Diablo 1 and 2 were "most popular", you'd have to look that up. Anyways those are just the ones off the top of my head, I'm sure you'll find more if you googled the 100 most popular pc games of all time.
 
I just purchased this game about an hour ago, Soo looking forward to playing this, As far as I'm concerned, I always have an internet connection so it really doesn't bother me that I need one and I'll be playing with friends anyway...
 
Shame no one can logon to play It...Take a hint Blizzard no one should "have" to be online to play single or co-op....*****'S.
I'll wait for the "patch" so I can play offline til then not buying It.
 
I'll wait for the "patch" so I can play offline
Haha, same. I cannot stand Blizzard atm and might even forgo the next SC expansion (and I LOVE SC...)

I am pretty sure that we can all agree that there are now 2 types of "hardcore" gamers out there: the "I have standards" gamer, and the "I like it in the ***" gamer (heh, where are the guidelines for posting? I do not wanna have this one deleted because I used the best description I could think of... :p )
 
Guest said: "Most popular pc games of all time include: Fallout 1 and 2, Starcraft, Baldurs Gate 2, Sim City 2000, Age of Empires 2, Civilization IV, Warcraft 2 and 3, World of Warcraft... I'm not sure if Diablo 1 and 2 were "most popular", you'd have to look that up."

"Popular" should translate in sales and it's ironic that none of the games you mentioned are in the top 10
 
Give it up people. It is what it is. Diablo 3 was deisgned from the ground up to be online mutliplayer game that offers a single player component. Not the other way around. The main reason to have it online only is to prevent cheating, if you played any decent amount of Diablo 2 you should know exactly what I'm talking about.
 
Haters gonna hate, nothing more to say.

If it is such a piece of **** as people who dont like it state, no one would buy them, it's like saying backstreet boys were bad just because I didnt like them... no efes given.
 
<p>Haters gonna hate, nothing more to say.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>If it is such a piece of **** as people who dont like it state, no one would buy them, it's like saying backstreet boys were bad just because I didnt like them... no efes given.</p>


It's been proven over and over that gamers are sheep that buy anything with a familiar name or brand on it.

Haters are hating, but you're still wrong.
 
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