TheOnlyMook
Member
Those are mind boggling numbers. Congrats to Blizzard for making a fantastic game
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Diablo III: 6.3 million copies sold
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
Well, a few people from blizzard did say we exceeded their expectations, but I thought they were being cute about the whole error 37 thing.
User-created servers have been around since the the beta, but the game itself is essentially pirate-proof due to how it fundamentally operates - everything from the AI to terrain generation info is generated at Blizzard's end and delivered to the client on-the-fly, and while some such elements have been emulated (AI, for instance), the implementations are very rough at best.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
Well.. that does kinda explain the tech issues, not that it excuses them. But 6.3 million is an awful big party to try and prepare for.
It's great for any title on any platform. Uncharted 2 sold around 5 million for it's whole life-time sales. Gears 3 sold 3 million within the same time period of this hitting 6. CoD is a massive outlier all things considered.
CountAntonius
Member
That's insane. Why was this done? Would explain why there's no offline mode.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Is there any chance in hell that GW2 can get even close to that? GW1 is now an established IP. And it's a MMO without fee. And D3 is a single player game that has to be played online, so they both sort of cross each others interests, even though they are about completely different things.
What the hell? Can we stop making hyperbolic statements that bring nothing to the discussion, folks? That would be nice.
Wind's Howling
Member
So what did they make? 240.000.000,- give or take, right?
Schweinehund
Member
The game is pretty badly balanced.
Today they nerfed two monk abilities and told players to not even use it anymore until later.
Elite mobs will kill you over and over if you get a bad combination of modifiers, no matter what skill combo you do, you will end up trying to kite them and most likely dying multiple times. The gear that they drop will not make killing them significantly easier, no matter how good of an item roll you get.
The real laugh is that the bosses and purple mobs you fight are much much easier to fight than the unique mobs. I was more eager to fight the boss of act 4 than the unique mob that spammed meteor and spammed arcane/teleport and had extra health that I died 6 times to.
That being said, it is a good game. I don't think it lives up to 6 years of development/hype though (what does?).
CountAntonius
Member
No way in hell. I think it will sell a couple million but not as many and nowhere near as fast as D3. When D3 was announced the internet went bananas. I don't think I remember a game with so much appeal across the board. I can't see anything surpassing it for awhile on PC.
Felix Lighter
Member
Those numbers are bonkers and this is a game that will keep its price and have long legs. I'm looking forward to hearing the numbers after the first quarter and after the first year.
Technosteve
Banned
Lol the bosses are far easier then the unique mobs lol
"Only" 6.3 million? PC market is obviously dead. (Grats Blizzard)
So the game can't be hacked. Real money is going to be traded on this game in a week or so, so security is kind of a big deal.
So the game can't be hacked. Real money is going to be traded on this game in a week or so, so security is kind of a big deal.
Tylahedras
Banned
So many suckers.
Hari Seldon
Member
So this hasn't launched in Russia and mainland China yet right? Those are huge PC gaming regions.
It depends on who you ask. Keeping the game code at a distance protects the sanctity of the real money auction house (which as a benefit makes the game unpirateable for months).
Or it's the man trying to prevent you from owning things! Today, it's game code, tomorrow, it's your air!
CountAntonius
Member
Ah, that makes sense. Gonna be interesting to see how the real money trade will affect the game overall.
Interfectum
Member
Well we already buy bottled water!
Felix Lighter
Member
Guild Wars is not nearly as deeply established as Diablo. I'm sure they'll do well though but not anything in the same ballpark.
For one, they are banking hard on the Real Money Auction house. You have to realize, the hosting needed for Diablo is actually pretty comparable to that needed for WoW, just a smaller scale, but there is no monthly subscription. Having enough self hosted servers to allow for even 250k people connected at all times is not cheap. As such, they need to take every precaution to prevent items being duplicated and other cheating methods from being used, so the RMAH actually works.
It could also allow for some neat world events and the like, which Blizzard will likely do to keep players playing and the auction economy moving.
I actually like it, and hope they make it so the bosses can have some of the abilities of the Unique mobs on harder difficulties. Would really add to replayability, the game isn't much about the loot to me, its about how it is never the quiet the same thing each time.
Yeah, 200 to 250 Million seems to be a decent ballpark guess, when you take into account things like Credit Card fees, the cut 3rd party retailers get, and regional pricing.
Brofist
Member
Right until the release there was some doubt as to whether the game would sell up to expectations because of the always online aspect. While it's not shocking, it's probably still better than most imagined it would do.
Hari Seldon
Member
I'm not sure why anyone would use the RMAH when you are connected to the entire world in the actual AH, and due to supply and demand, buying stuff is ultra cheap.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
I'm pretty sure it's just the Diablo crowd.
FieryBalrog
Member
It's not pirate proof in a theoretical sense, but it is somewhat in a practical sense. They have to reverse engineer the servers basically, and the maintain those for their (non-paying) players. It takes time and it also takes way more effort than normal cracking.
So WoW for example eventually had servers reverse engineered and there are private servers, but not only does it take a long time to get there, the problem is the cost and effort of upkeep mean that a lot of them don't last, or turn into donate-to-win schemes, or provide a half-assed experience. D3 definitely shouldn't be as hard to maintain as World of Warcraft, but it'll be enough to significantly deter piracy.
I don't think the trade off is worth it for the consumer, but it is what it is. I put the vast majority of my time into a handful of games that are ongoing online services (LoL, WoW, blah blah), so for me personally it doesn't change anything.
Hasn't Guild Wars plus all of its expansions sold about 6-7 million combined? I doubt the sequel is going to sell to that many people who never played the first one, at least during week one.
I think this is an often overlooked part of the RMAH. By having a constant revenue stream, Blizzard is likely to support the game much longer with much more content than D2 ever had simply to keep that stream flowing.
Portugeezer
Member
So, PC gamers don't mind always online DRM anymore.
It is the future.
It is the future.
fluffydelusions
Member
This. Honestly the only boss that annoys me is the Act 2 one in 2nd form.
FieryBalrog
Member
Wouldn't be a boxed model in China anyway, in Russia there will probably be a discounted box model on top of a pay-by-hour option. If SC2 is anything to go by.
Reminds me of a Castlevania boss.
They all kinda do, for that matter.
Goldrusher
Member
To put this impressive number into some perspective.
The full-price PC exclusives that sold more than 2 million copies this generation (2006 - present):
(2007) STALKER (2+ mil)
(2007) The Witcher (2+ mil)
(2008) Spore (2+ mil)
(2010) StarCraft II (5+ mil)
(2011) Star Wars: The Old Republic (2+ mil)
(2012) Diablo III (6+ mil)
(hope I didn't forget a game)
The full-price PC exclusives that sold more than 2 million copies this generation (2006 - present):
(2007) STALKER (2+ mil)
(2007) The Witcher (2+ mil)
(2008) Spore (2+ mil)
(2010) StarCraft II (5+ mil)
(2011) Star Wars: The Old Republic (2+ mil)
(2012) Diablo III (6+ mil)
(hope I didn't forget a game)
WoW?
FieryBalrog
Member
WoW expansions?
Yeah, I not quiet sure ether, but I think its too soon to make a definitive answer, especially since the RMAH hasn't even launched yet. The normal AH also has simply not stabilized at all. Plus, it isn't like Drop rates can't be adjusted if there is really to many good items out there.
Worst comes to worst, blizzard can make loot have random cosmetic properties on top of the stats, so having a well rolled hat that has a swilling rainbow around it would be worth more then a well rolled hat without a cool cosmetic effect, if TF2's is anything to go by.
I have to believe the vast majority of Diablo 3 gamers will be playing the game online co-operatively, which would require always online DRM anyway. Its puzzling that many think that Diablo 3 is a single-player focused game.
LAN mode/offline would always be appreciated certainly, especially even moreso in Starcraft 2. Its shitty that its there but I'm sure many of those PC gamers aren't exactly happy with the always-on DRM. Its one of those top-tier PC Games that gamers will want to buy regardless of DRM. I wouldn't say the theory extends to lesser games.
FieryBalrog
Member
The normal AH is already segregated by region.
I suspect they may actually shard it further behind the scenes, to preserve prices.
I suspect they may actually shard it further behind the scenes, to preserve prices.
Goldrusher
Member
2004
StoppedInTracks
Member
I don't want to be D3 apologists but...
So was D2 at launch.
Same with D2 and Lightning Enchanted Scarabs in Lut Gholein! Harder than Duriel and Diablo himself.
Blizzard could be ashamed that it made the same mistakes as 12 years earlier with Diablo 2 but... are those really mistakes? Maybe it is just broken design.
So was D2 at launch.
Same with D2 and Lightning Enchanted Scarabs in Lut Gholein! Harder than Duriel and Diablo himself.
Blizzard could be ashamed that it made the same mistakes as 12 years earlier with Diablo 2 but... are those really mistakes? Maybe it is just broken design.
Sins of a Solar Empire as well I believe.
StoppedInTracks
Member
They will easily get additional 1-1.5M of full price sales from Russia in first month and 10-15M of "discount" price sales in China (similiar to different WoW pricing there).
All those expansions though.
You'd think so, but items are the only content updates you'll see in D3:
Vaneras said:
Obviously, the phrasing leaves a little bit of wiggle room for change, but I wouldn't expect it; we know they've two retail expansion packs planned.