{"id":21032,"date":"2012-05-24T17:59:22","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T07:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/power-up.space\/?p=21032"},"modified":"2012-05-24T17:59:22","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T07:59:22","slug":"diablo-iii-sets-pc-game-launch-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/?p=21032","title":{"rendered":"DIABLO\u00ae III SETS PC-GAME LAUNCH RECORD"},"content":{"rendered":"

The forces of Sanctuary already stand more than 6.3-million strong and growing<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

IRVINE, Calif. — May 23, 2012 — <\/strong>Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that as of the first 24 hours of Diablo\u00ae<\/sup> III<\/em>\u2019s <\/em>release, more than 3.5 million copies had been sold, setting the new all-time record for fastest-selling PC game.*<\/sup> That number does not<\/em> include the more than 1.2 million players who received Diablo III<\/em> as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft\u00ae<\/sup> <\/em>Annual Pass promotion. Altogether, more than 4.7 million gamers around the world were poised to storm Sanctuary on day 1 of Diablo III\u2019<\/em>s release — representing the biggest PC-game launch in history.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As of the first week of the game\u2019s availability, that number had already grown to more than 6.3 million.*<\/sup> The above figures also do not include players in Korean Internet game rooms, where Diablo III <\/em>has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39% as of May 22.\u2020<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III <\/em>and jump in the moment it went live,\u201d said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. \u201cWe 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 <\/em>players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding today\u2019s announcement, we recognize that setting a new launch record is a big achievement,\u201d Morhaime continued. \u201cHowever, we\u2019re especially proud of the gameplay feedback we\u2019ve received from players worldwide. We\u2019re pleased that Diablo III<\/em> has lived up to players\u2019 high expectations, and we\u2019re looking forward to welcoming more players into Sanctuary in the days ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diablo III <\/em>went live on May 15, with more than 8,000 retailers throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau opening their doors to players at midnight or concurrently with the local release time in celebration of the launch. Blizzard thanks its retail partners around the world for their support and commitment to the Diablo series.<\/p>\n

In addition to being able to buy the game at retail stores, gamers in the regions above as well as in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are also able to purchase Diablo III <\/em>digitally via the official Diablo III <\/em>website (http:\/\/www.diablo3.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Diablo III<\/em> is available for Windows\u00ae<\/sup> XP\/Windows Vista\u00ae<\/sup>\/Windows\u00ae<\/sup> 7 and Macintosh\u00ae<\/sup> at a suggested price of $89.95 AUD for the retail DVD-ROM version and $79.95 AUD for the digital version sold directly from Blizzard.\u00a0 The game <\/em>has received a MA 15+ rating from the Australian Classification Board.<\/p>\n

Players in the Latin American countries listed above and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo III <\/em>at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability via http:\/\/www.diablo3.com<\/a> for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7. In addition to the English version, Diablo III <\/em>is fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and traditional Chinese.<\/p>\n

Diablo III <\/em>is the latest chapter in Blizzard\u2019s critically acclaimed action\u2013role-playing-game series. The game continues the epic Diablo<\/em> storyline, with players taking on the role of one of five heroic characters — barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter — and embarking on a perilous quest to save the world of Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells. As players adventure through rich and varied settings, they\u2019ll engage in pulse-pounding combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, grow in experience and ability, acquire artifacts of incredible power, and meet key characters who\u2019ll join them in battle or aid them in other ways.<\/em> Diablo III<\/em> features the intuitive interface, fast-paced action, and visceral gameplay that Diablo<\/em> players have come to expect and enjoy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Designed from the ground up to leverage the full functionality of the Battle.net\u00ae<\/sup> platform, Diablo III<\/em> also provides gamers with industry-leading matchmaking and communication tools, allowing adventurers to seamlessly join forces for cooperative play. Battle.net also provides the infrastructure for the Diablo III <\/em>auction house, a feature-rich marketplace that Sanctuary\u2019s heroes can use to trade their hard-earned treasures. To learn more about the auction house and the other features of Diablo III<\/em>, please visit the official website at http:\/\/www.diablo3.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available — visit http:\/\/jobs.blizzard.com<\/a> for more information and to learn how to apply.<\/p>\n

* Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.<\/p>\n

\u2020 www.gametrics.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The forces of Sanctuary already stand more than 6.3-million strong and growing\u00a0 IRVINE, Calif. — May 23, 2012 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that as of the first 24 hours of Diablo\u00ae III\u2019s release, more than 3.5 million copies had been sold, setting the new all-time record for fastest-selling PC game.* That number does<\/p>\n

Read More\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21033,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21032\/revisions\/21033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}