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Diablo 3 shatters one-day PC sales records: Blizzard

Diablo 3 was plagued by a bug-laden launch. But that hasn't hurt sales, Blizzard said today. 

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Blizzard
A screenshot from Diablo 3, the new Blizzard game.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Diablo 3, the long-awaited action-RPG from Blizzard, has reportedly broken the record for the fastest-selling PC game of all time. According to Blizzard, approximately 3.5 million copies of Diablo 3 were snatched up in the first 24 hours the game was available – a number that does not include the estimated 1.2 million players who received a free edition of Diablo 3 as a part of a World of Warcraft promotion. 

By the end of the first week of sales, Blizzard had sold 6.3 million copies of Diablo 3, reps for the company said. (It's worth noting here that while Blizzard may now hold the PC sales record, it is easily bested by Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which sold a whopping 12 million copies in a single week.) 

"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," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in a statement. "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." 

As we recently reported, Diablo 3 – which followed more than a decade after Diablo 2 – was plagued with server issues and in-game errors from the outset. Some users reported glitches in the gameplay. Others couldn't even manage to log on to Battle.net, the Blizzard gaming service. Blizzard, for its part, has pledged to patch the bugs, and as of late last week, many of the server issues appeared to be resolved.

Despite the bumpy launch, Diablo 3 has earned generally positive reviews from critics. "Diablo 3 is a great game, and every bit the landmark achievement in the genre that everyone expected out of Blizzard," wrote the team at Game Informer. "The presentation and combat are second to none, and the co-op focus is well-executed and a natural fit for the genre." 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. 

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