Diablo III is the Fastest Selling PC Game of All Time

By Brian P Rubin | 23 May 2012 | 20 Comments

A press release published by Blizzard today revealed that Diablo III, which launched last week, sold more than 3.5 million copies within its first 24 hours of release, leading the company to claim the title of fastest selling PC game of all time. The number, says Blizzard, doesn’t include the 1.2 million players who got Diablo III after signing up for the World of Warcraft yearly pass promo.

After a week, the game has hit 6.3 million sales, and continues to grow, says the company.

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime patted the company on the back, while also apologizing for the massive server outages that marred the launch experience for many last week:

“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.”

One can only hope that the cash generated from the game’s sales will more than make up for all the money invested in its 11-year development. After 11 years, if a game doesn’t sell at least 6.5 million copies, you’d better just go kill yourself, I guess.

Via Business Wire

20 Comments

Posted by soulprovider on 23 May 12 at 9:36am

also a game with the weakest security, an increasing number of players are having their accounts stolen by the minute and several of them with authenticators, with blizzards response being its the players fault, even for players who haven’t made their games publics.
Posted by Galo on 23 May 12 at 11:33am

B-but PC gaming is dead!
- Posted by Kres on 23 May 12 at 12:18pm
  
  Galo
  
  I think this shows that PC gaming is far from dead :P
  - Posted by JFKisJack on 23 May 12 at 1:57pm
    
    As a PC gamer I think this guy was ether trolling or just joking around. Everybody know that with steam, f2p games, mmos and others shows that the PC market is not dead but thriving and is doing better than ever
Posted by Leivve on 23 May 12 at 11:48am

I look at consoles and laugh!
- Posted by Fonzea on 24 May 12 at 4:36pm
  
  Haha! Console gamers are poor!
Posted by Michael P on 23 May 12 at 12:38pm

@soul
I’m surprised there isn’t an article on the blog talking about those issues.
- Posted by Lawrence Sonntag on 23 May 12 at 1:23pm
  
  I considered doing a write-up, but the problem is people’s battle.net accounts get hacked all the time in WoW, and it’s only a headline again because it’s happening in a new game.
  - Posted by soulprovider on 23 May 12 at 8:22pm
    
    thats why there should be an article, bring attention to it. Its the same old blizzard should have learned from WoW mistakes especially with the Real money auction house coming up, and blizzards response is its the fans fault, now please buy an authenticator or download the free App, I know its getting hard to believe but there are quite a few of use who don’t have smartphones or tablet pc’s, basically blizzard needs to come out and say, Hey we know its happening, we’re looking into finding out how its happening and how we can stop it and offer further security protections in the future. But blizzard seems to be showing the classic example of if you don’t learn from history your doomed to repeat it.
Posted by Nick on 23 May 12 at 12:45pm

Just wait for HL3, then we will see who is the fastest seller…
- Posted by LLama on 23 May 12 at 1:11pm
  
  I honestly don’t think HL3 will come close. It will do extremely well but there is no way its going to compete with what D3 just pulled off. I doubt HL3 is even a sperm in Gabe Newell’s chode yet anyways.
  - Posted by TheBlahDog on 23 May 12 at 7:24pm
    
    Well, HL3 does have some of the same advantages as Diablo:
    -Large and dedicated fan base
    -A popular developer
    -Modding that keeps up interest in the IP
    
    Valve also has a few more advantages than Blizzard:
    -Their own well-know digital distributor, Steam, will probably increase sales
    -Steam will also have more coverage of HL3 (think the Portal 2 poster that was up for a while)
    -Maybe an Orange Box 2?
    -Possible ARG that will increase news and interest
    
    HL3 is set up for a huge debut and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it surpassed Diablo in sales
- Posted by Lawrence Sonntag on 23 May 12 at 7:35pm
  
  I dunno man, Diablo breaks through to people in a way Half-Life never did. I remember my high school history teacher was playing Diablo, and tons of my friends that normally don’t play anything but Peggle are on it.
Posted by LLama on 23 May 12 at 1:09pm

“One can only hope that the cash generated from the game’s sales will more than make up for all the money invested in its 11-year development. After 11 years, if a game doesn’t sell at least 6.5 million copies, you’d better just go kill yourself, I guess.”

Duke Nukem says hi.
Posted by René Mathias Rojas on 23 May 12 at 2:20pm

I regret buying my copy. So much. Didn’t like the first two, didn’t like the third.
- Posted by Disengaged40 on 23 May 12 at 10:38pm
  
  Then why did u buy the third?
Posted by Jakekozo on 23 May 12 at 2:23pm

Hey if anyone has an extra starter edition pass and is willing to give it away i would love one! thanks I want to buy the game but i want to see how well it will run on my pc!
- Posted by Jakekozo on 23 May 12 at 2:35pm
  
  btw my email is jakekozo@aol.com
Posted by Landon Robinson on 23 May 12 at 9:24pm

Oh hey, I am also playing this game.
Posted by Eoin on 24 May 12 at 12:19pm

I personally am boycotting Blizzard games, their support basically told me to screw when a code in a Starcraft II C.E. I had bought at a charity auction had apparently been used because I had no receipt to prove I had bought it.

While I loved WoW, Starcraft 1 (which I still have on disc AND on the flash drive/dog tag that came with C.E., it was a step too far when they essentially cheated me out of 100 quid. The charity had that C.E. donated FROM Blizzard for God’s sake. Terrible experience with customer service turned me and I guarantee you a lot of others from buying their games again.