Diablo 3 has become the fastest selling PC game in history, accumulating 3.5 Million in sales over its first 24 hours of release and 6.5 Million in the entire week. Blizzard‘s highly anticipated loot fest was just released two weeks ago, but it has already proven to be another breakout success for the Warcraft developer.
While Diablo 3 might be the fastest selling PC game in history, it also holds the dubious honor of being the quickest game to disappoint in history. At the stroke of midnight, millions of gamers tried to log on to the Diablo 3 servers, a necessary step because of the game’s piracy prevention, and were instead met with several error messages, most notably Error 37.
Since the game’s launch Blizzard has responded, and delayed the launch of their much-maligned Auction House (where players can sell in-game items for real world currency) but even that was overshadowed by the poor launch. By now most of those problems are worked out, and Blizzard can bask in some spectacular sales numbers, but that doesn’t mean gamers will forget.
“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live. 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 III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”
Sure, in ten years time, when Blizzard is hyping the next Diablo they might discuss it as being a sequel to the fastest selling PC game of all time, but the real question is whether or not gamers will remember how poorly its predecessor launched. Take World of Warcraft for example, that highly anticipated MMO buckled under the pressure, but over time most have come to recognize it as the most popular MMO ever. Will Diablo 3 be able to do the same, and shake off its rough start?
Do you think that Diablo 3‘s legacy will be as the fastest selling PC game or one of the worst launch failures? Will a Blizzard game ever launch without problems, or is it just part of the process?
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Cardboard characters
Subpar story
Linear gameplay
No stats
Enforced auto-leveling
Simplified skill system
Enforced online connection
Game breaking bugs
No class balance
Failed launch
… and yet, they managed to pull it. Congratulations, Bliz.
The Diablo franchise is waaaay overrated.
Well it actually wasn’t until D3 was released. This “could” have been a game to keep players happy and busily playing it for another 10 years. Instead what we got was an overly streamlined and simplified package that most people will get bored playing in less that 6 months. They killed off the complexity that made the D2 so fun for so long.
@yester hate much? It’s all about THE LOOT!!!!!
Great game, it’s going to get even better. Love it.
This is why I waited to purchase honestly. With a game like this I’d expect launch issues, the fact that it was fixed within days is great.
This game has been such a disappointment for fans of the franchise. This was anticipated by many though, e.g. http://www.squidoo.com/5-reasons-why-diablo-3-will-dissapoint. The Diablo-WoW mashup just didn’t work at all.
Even the eternal Blizzard fanboy Forcesc2strategy has turned his back on the game.