Blizzard Boasts Diablo 3 is Fastest Selling PC Game Ever

By Kevin Parrish
published

Blizzard has already sold over 6.3 million units since Diablo 3 began taking pre-orders.

Blizzard Entertainment said on Wednesday that Diablo 3 was the biggest launch in PC gaming history, with more than 4.7 million gamers around the world poised and ready to storm the gates of Sanctuary on day one.

According to Blizzard, more than 3.5 million copies of Diablo 3 were sold within the first 24 hours of the game's release. An additional 1.2 million plus fans also received the long-awaited PC game as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion. That's a total of over 4.7 million gamers on day one.

By the end of the first week, the number of Diablo 3 units sold grew to more than 6.3 million. Excluded from that total are players in Korean Internet game rooms where Diablo 3 has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39-percent as of May 22, Blizzard said.

Amazon saw a little green too on Diablo Day. "Not only did Diablo 3 break the record for most pre-ordered PC game of all-time on Amazon.com, but it also shattered the record for best day-one sales for any PC game ever on Amazon.com," said John Love, director of video games at Amazon.com.

"Diablo 3 was one of our biggest PC launches ever and will help make this a record year for Blizzard at GameStop," added Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop.

Despite the technical problems that have plagued the action-RPG game since its launch, Diablo 3 has received a decent review average from critics, with a current 89 out of 100 on Metacritic and an 89.56-percent on GameRankings. User reviews have been less than stellar, with a current average score of only 4.1 out of 10.

"Regarding today's announcement, we recognize that setting a new launch record is a big achievement," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "However, we're especially proud of the gameplay feedback we've received from players worldwide. We're pleased that Diablo 3 has lived up to players' high expectations, and we're looking forward to welcoming more players into Sanctuary in the days ahead."

What's the story here? Despite its launch-related problems, there's an awesome game at the heart of Diablo 3, and Blizzard has once again given birth to a highly lucrative cash cow.

Kevin Parrish
99 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DroKing
    I still think you are a garbage company Blizzard. DRM = TRASH. Have a good day. I hope you choke on your fame someday because It was Blizzard North's FAME not your! Bunch of thieves.
    Reply
  • Stop the hackers first, mmmkay?
    Reply
  • aevm
    And yet, shares of ATVI are still at $12, just like 5 years ago. They should have just released Diablo 2 again, in 2007, with updated graphics.
    Reply
  • spasmolytic46
    Torchlight II will be better.
    Reply
  • aoneone
    Blizzard never took my money, thanks to skidr0w! Now we're just waiting on the crack and we're good to go!
    Reply
  • boyabunda
    *6,300,000 x $60 = $378,000,000

    Dear Activision Blizzard, Inc.,

    Since you are now $378 million richer, can you please give us an 'offline play' option for your game?
    Thanks in advance!
    Reply
  • JDFan
    Sad part is with all those sales they still couldn't spend a bit of money and have enough servers ready to let people connect and play instead of getting timed out trying to connect !!
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    DroKingI still think you are a garbage company Blizzard. DRM = TRASH. Have a good day. I hope you choke on your fame someday because It was Blizzard North's FAME not your! Bunch of thieves.
    If you prefer Blizzard North then you can still play a great game by the same guys. Torchlight. It was developed by the same guys that did Diblo 1 and 2. Plus pre-purchase Torchlight 2 on Steam and you get Torchlight 1 for free. Its a win win.

    That said, Blizzard is still a good PC company. And unlike some other companies whom I shall not name but everyone knows, they have yet to turn their backs to PC gamers and at least produced a very good game.

    It could have very well been worse. They could have gone the way of consoles with D3 then ported it half arsed to PC.
    Reply
  • smuggl3r
    If always online DRM is the price to pay for saving PC gaming, then I will pay it. I dont get it what is the big problem with it. I dont know anyone who has a gaming PC but does not have broadband.
    Reply
  • azgard
    smuggl3rIf always online DRM is the price to pay for saving PC gaming, then I will pay it. I dont get it what is the big problem with it. I dont know anyone who has a gaming PC but does not have broadband.
    I don't, 320k dsl. I can't stream anything faster then almost any youtube video over 360 and bandwidth intensive games get severely choked up on my internet connection, I had to quit playing WoW when raid traffic exceeded the capacity of my connection and constantly forced the blizzard server's to DC me. Oh and my connection is not 'always on either' my connection can drop for hours at a time blocking me access to crappy online authentication DRM.
    Reply