Diablo 3 sells 6.3 million units in its first week

Ok, so there's no sticky anymore, and I haven't seen another recent thread about this. I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere in SW already, but I just won't go read the nearly 200 pages of the official thread.

I find that number interesting, for a very specific reason : I'm a PC gamer, but I've never been a great fan of Blizzard games. I enjoyed both Warcraft and Starcraft when they first released, and missed out on Diablo. Since then, I've never felt the urge to purchase another Blizzard game.

Nevertheless, I'm one of the six million people who bought this game, and I have to say that I'm actually surprised in a positive way. I've spent half of my play time messing around with friends in multiplayer, and haven't suffered connectivity issues (apart from the server maintenance last sunday).

The reason I made this thread, is to talk about piracy and the way many other PC gamers dismiss it, and hate on companies enforcing brutal DRMs like Blizzard did with this game.

Isn't it shocking that the two fastest selling PC games ever, beyond their intrinsic qualities, happen to also be games that are very hard to enjoy illegally? I'm asking this because I'm one of the PC gamers that actually acknowledge that piracy is a real issue for this otherwise fantastic gaming platform, and I think Diablo 3, for better or worse, is going to convince many developers/editors that online-only and aggressive DRMs are the only way to go once you become a major actor.

I'm very admirative and respectful of CDProjekt Red's position regarding DRM, but I also think they chose to act this way because they didn't have the resources in the first place to do like Blizzard.

So, SW, what do you think (besides "lol PC gamerz are teh pirates lol")?

milannoir

Sad thing is D3 is already pirated, though I love D3 and I do have a love/hate relationship with Blizzard and their games. I'm happy D3 sold well but come on, it doesn't surprise me it sold that much cause people love games by Blizzard, not to mention people have been waiting 9 years for Diablo 3.

CoD sells over that in 2 hours just saying :oops:

finalstar2007

You're such a COD Fanboy its unbelievable. I bet you don't even buy PS3 Exclusives but you still hype them up :lol:

CoD can sell alot but it doesn't mean anything, we all know how good the game is....

Sorry, wrong word, we all know how MEDIOCRE the game is. "Leader of all FPS" when there are only 2 good COD Games ( COD 2 and 4) which are average compared to the vast amount of FPS on PC?

Wow guys, if 6.3 million sales is absolutely nothing or 'garbage.' Then we should be calling most console exclusive sales figures worthless garbage.

You guys have serious issues with double standards.

Vesica_Prime

The want what ever it takes to believe PC gaming is doing horrible

The real question is woulld it have sold more without the DRM?

[QUOTE="milannoir"]

Ok, so there's no sticky anymore, and I haven't seen another recent thread about this. I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere in SW already, but I just won't go read the nearly 200 pages of the official thread.

I find that number interesting, for a very specific reason : I'm a PC gamer, but I've never been a great fan of Blizzard games. I enjoyed both Warcraft and Starcraft when they first released, and missed out on Diablo. Since then, I've never felt the urge to purchase another Blizzard game.

Nevertheless, I'm one of the six million people who bought this game, and I have to say that I'm actually surprised in a positive way. I've spent half of my play time messing around with friends in multiplayer, and haven't suffered connectivity issues (apart from the server maintenance last sunday).

The reason I made this thread, is to talk about piracy and the way many other PC gamers dismiss it, and hate on companies enforcing brutal DRMs like Blizzard did with this game.

Isn't it shocking that the two fastest selling PC games ever, beyond their intrinsic qualities, happen to also be games that are very hard to enjoy illegally? I'm asking this because I'm one of the PC gamers that actually acknowledge that piracy is a real issue for this otherwise fantastic gaming platform, and I think Diablo 3, for better or worse, is going to convince many developers/editors that online-only and aggressive DRMs are the only way to go once you become a major actor.

I'm very admirative and respectful of CDProjekt Red's position regarding DRM, but I also think they chose to act this way because they didn't have the resources in the first place to do like Blizzard.

So, SW, what do you think (besides "lol PC gamerz are teh pirates lol")?

Ballroompirate

Sad thing is D3 is already pirated, though I love D3 and I do have a love/hate relationship with Blizzard and their games. I'm happy D3 sold well but come on, it doesn't surprise me it sold that much cause people love games by Blizzard, not to mention people have been waiting 9 years for Diablo 3.

Not in a playable way, no.

The real question is woulld it have sold more without the DRM?

lostrib

Are there people in SW who actually claim that if there had been an illegal and free alternative on day 1, the sales would have been the same? C'mon.... I'm an open-minded guy, but there is just no way on earth. Just like saying "one illegal download = one lost sale" is stupid beyond recognition, saying piracy doesn't affect sales is just as ludicrous.

I'm curious what the sales will be over time. PC games tend to have long legs when it comes to sales. Not like consoles where games are forgotten about after 2 weeks, or 1 week with Starhawk.

If it was 10-12 million I would be impressed for Blizz to get such results ... but 6,3 - meh. Nothing special.

Code135

[QUOTE="Code135"]

If it was 10-12 million I would be impressed for Blizz to get such results ... but 6,3 - meh. Nothing special.

Stevo_the_gamer

Anything said in SW is just...ugh

I would kiss the rear end of a Hippo before I take anything from SW to heart

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

[QUOTE="milannoir"]

Sad thing is D3 is already pirated, though I love D3 and I do have a love/hate relationship with Blizzard and their games. I'm happy D3 sold well but come on, it doesn't surprise me it sold that much cause people love games by Blizzard, not to mention people have been waiting 9 years for Diablo 3.

milannoir

Not in a playable way, no.

The real question is woulld it have sold more without the DRM?

lostrib

Are there people in SW who actually claim that if there had been an illegal and free alternative on day 1, the sales would have been the same? C'mon.... I'm an open-minded guy, but there is just no way on earth. Just like saying "one illegal download = one lost sale" is stupid beyond recognition, saying piracy doesn't affect sales is just as ludicrous.

In the case of diablo, I do believe that piracy would not have been extremely detrimental to sales considering at least half were day 1 purchases/pre-orders

Ok, so there's no sticky anymore, and I haven't seen another recent thread about this. I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere in SW already, but I just won't go read the nearly 200 pages of the official thread.

I find that number interesting, for a very specific reason : I'm a PC gamer, but I've never been a great fan of Blizzard games. I enjoyed both Warcraft and Starcraft when they first released, and missed out on Diablo. Since then, I've never felt the urge to purchase another Blizzard game.

Nevertheless, I'm one of the six million people who bought this game, and I have to say that I'm actually surprised in a positive way. I've spent half of my play time messing around with friends in multiplayer, and haven't suffered connectivity issues (apart from the server maintenance last sunday).

The reason I made this thread, is to talk about piracy and the way many other PC gamers dismiss it, and hate on companies enforcing brutal DRMs like Blizzard did with this game.

Isn't it shocking that the two fastest selling PC games ever, beyond their intrinsic qualities, happen to also be games that are very hard to enjoy illegally? I'm asking this because I'm one of the PC gamers that actually acknowledge that piracy is a real issue for this otherwise fantastic gaming platform, and I think Diablo 3, for better or worse, is going to convince many developers/editors that online-only and aggressive DRMs are the only way to go once you become a major actor.

I'm very admirative and respectful of CDProjekt Red's position regarding DRM, but I also think they chose to act this way because they didn't have the resources in the first place to do like Blizzard.

So, SW, what do you think (besides "lol PC gamerz are teh pirates lol")?

milannoir

Blizzard is one of the few companies that can get away with putting silly restrictions on its games in order to reduce piracy. I can't say I'm fond of everything that Blizzard does, but I've always been a huge Diablo fan and so long as the gameplay doesn't suffer from their rules, I'll continue to buy Diablo games.

If this was some no-name publisher that had put out a comparable game, you can rest assured that nobody would have touched it if it had the same aggressive restrictions that Blizzard imposes.

Your logic is dumb, TC. Just because it sells 6.3 mil doesnt mean DRM s a good thing. If it didnt' have DRM it'd have sold over 10 mil.Zensword

The sale just shows how popular Blizzard is, nothing more and nothing less.

That's very impressive especially when you consider Blizzard games basically sell forever. Diablo II still sells well to this day. I wonder what StarCraft II is currently at.Zero5000X

Are there people in SW who actually claim that if there had been an illegal and free alternative on day 1, the sales would have been the same? C'mon.... I'm an open-minded guy, but there is just no way on earth. Just like saying "one illegal download = one lost sale" is stupid beyond recognition, saying piracy doesn't affect sales is just as ludicrous.

milannoir

The matter is that we basically don't know anything about it. The only thing we know for sure about piracy is that it's affected by popularity (captain obvious) and that noone has control over it.

It affects sales, but how? How many of those who pirate will *not* buy the product because they can pirate it? How many of those who pirate will buy the game because once they tried it out they believe the developers deserve retribution? How many of those who don't buy said product buy the next one by the same developer?

Which weights more? The free advertising or the "loss of potential sales"?

[QUOTE="milannoir"]

Are there people in SW who actually claim that if there had been an illegal and free alternative on day 1, the sales would have been the same? C'mon.... I'm an open-minded guy, but there is just no way on earth. Just like saying "one illegal download = one lost sale" is stupid beyond recognition, saying piracy doesn't affect sales is just as ludicrous.

N30F3N1X

The matter is that we basically don't know anything about it. The only thing we know for sure about piracy is that it's affected by popularity (captain obvious) and that noone has control over it.

It affects sales, but how? How many of those who pirate will *not* buy the product because they can pirate it? How many of those who pirate will buy the game because once they tried it out they believe the developers deserve retribution? How many of those who don't buy said product buy the next one by the same developer?

Which weights more? The free advertising or the "loss of potential sales"?

So basically you're saying that their DRM achieved massive sales.....

Yes, I read your OP and that's what you're saying.

So basically you're saying that their DRM achieved massive sales.....

Yes, I read your OP and that's what you're saying.

MlauTheDaft

Nope. I said that it might have been a contributing factor to the massive sales.

I know that there are jerks who hate the idea that one day, someone will find a way to prevent piracy, and that they are on a mission to convince the world that fighting piracy is some kind of crime against humanity.

I also know that there's another flavour of jerks that want to believe that 99% of people who play on PC never buy a single game.

The purpose of this thread, is to ponder whether due to the fact that an (as yet) unpiratable game just broke sales records, the form of DRM it's using will become more common. I know people try very hard to ignore that fact, but most PC game devs have been working hard to find ways to fight piracy over the last years. Some have given up, and moved on to developing for consoles primarily (Epic?). Now, I would hate a world where most PC games are MMOs or F2P. This is why I'm paying attention to what's going on with D3.

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

So basically you're saying that their DRM achieved massive sales.....

Yes, I read your OP and that's what you're saying.

milannoir

Nope. I said that it might have been a contributing factor to the massive sales.

I know that there are jerks who hate the idea that one day, someone will find a way to prevent piracy, and that they are on a mission to convince the world that fighting piracy is some kind of crime against humanity.

I also know that there's another flavour of jerks that want to believe that 99% of people who play on PC never buy a single game.

The purpose of this thread, is to ponder whether due to the fact that an (as yet) unpiratable game just broke sales records, the form of DRM it's using will become more common. I know people try very hard to ignore that fact, but most PC game devs have been working hard to find ways to fight piracy over the last years. Some have given up, and moved on to developing for consoles primarily (Epic?). Now, I would hate a world where most PC games are MMOs or F2P. This is why I'm paying attention to what's going on with D3.

So you're indeed arguing that their DRM resulted in massive sales.

Edit: While ignoring that companies like Ubisoft failed with the same approach. Consider that the title you're discussing is Diablo 3.

[QUOTE="Mozelleple112"]

Let's see just how many games in their entire lifetime have sold more than Diablo III has on PC in just ONE WEEK (keep in mind this is a sequel to a game that had 60,000 online players a decade after its launch)

Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

Halo Reach (Xbox 360)

COD: MW3 (Xbox 360)

COD MW3 (PS3)

COD: Black Ops (Xbox 360)

COD: Black Ops (PS3)

COD: MW2 (Xbox 360)

COD: MW2 (PS3)

COD4: MW (Xbox 360)

That's a total of 10 games, 6 on 360 and 4 on PS3.

Bear in mind that we're comparing LIFETIME SALES vs ONE WEEK SALES across 2 platforms.

GTAIV 360, MGS4, Gears 1 and Gears 3 are ever so close to making that list.

DragonfireXZ95

That's not 10 games. You listed the same game 6 times.

Also, source?

Well Diablo was going to sell will with or without DRAM , but as much as I hate it its a necessity because pirates are ridiculous.

[QUOTE="milannoir"]

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

So basically you're saying that their DRM achieved massive sales.....

Yes, I read your OP and that's what you're saying.

MlauTheDaft

Nope. I said that it might have been a contributing factor to the massive sales.

I know that there are jerks who hate the idea that one day, someone will find a way to prevent piracy, and that they are on a mission to convince the world that fighting piracy is some kind of crime against humanity.

I also know that there's another flavour of jerks that want to believe that 99% of people who play on PC never buy a single game.

The purpose of this thread, is to ponder whether due to the fact that an (as yet) unpiratable game just broke sales records, the form of DRM it's using will become more common. I know people try very hard to ignore that fact, but most PC game devs have been working hard to find ways to fight piracy over the last years. Some have given up, and moved on to developing for consoles primarily (Epic?). Now, I would hate a world where most PC games are MMOs or F2P. This is why I'm paying attention to what's going on with D3.

So you're indeed arguing that their DRM resulted in massive sales.

Edit: While ignoring that companies like Ubisoft failed with the same approach. Consider that the title you're discussing is Diablo 3.

Well, quite a lot of mistakes (lies?) there... If your reading comprehension skills were up to par, you would have understood that what I'm saying is that, though OBVIOUSLY D3's sales were going to be massive anyway, the impossibility to pirate it probably played a part in making it the fastest selling PC game ever. Ever. That's right.

Moreover, I already adressed the Ubisoft part earlier. It's not a good example, because AC2 and Splinter Cell were games that quite conspicuously catered to the console gamer. Those games aren't about the online experience anyway...

My point is that D3 could very well be a landmark. It could influence many editors, and make them pressure their studios to prioritize the development of online-only games.

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

[QUOTE="milannoir"]

Nope. I said that it might have been a contributing factor to the massive sales.

I know that there are jerks who hate the idea that one day, someone will find a way to prevent piracy, and that they are on a mission to convince the world that fighting piracy is some kind of crime against humanity.

I also know that there's another flavour of jerks that want to believe that 99% of people who play on PC never buy a single game.

The purpose of this thread, is to ponder whether due to the fact that an (as yet) unpiratable game just broke sales records, the form of DRM it's using will become more common. I know people try very hard to ignore that fact, but most PC game devs have been working hard to find ways to fight piracy over the last years. Some have given up, and moved on to developing for consoles primarily (Epic?). Now, I would hate a world where most PC games are MMOs or F2P. This is why I'm paying attention to what's going on with D3.

milannoir

So you're indeed arguing that their DRM resulted in massive sales.

Edit: While ignoring that companies like Ubisoft failed with the same approach. Consider that the title you're discussing is Diablo 3.

Well, quite a lot of mistakes (lies?) there... If your reading comprehension skills were up to par, you would have understood that what I'm saying is that, though OBVIOUSLY D3's sales were going to be massive anyway, the impossibility to pirate it probably played a part in making it the fastest selling PC game ever. Ever. That's right.

Moreover, I already adressed the Ubisoft part earlier. It's not a good example, because AC2 and Splinter Cell were games that quite conspicuously catered to the console gamer. Those games aren't about the online experience anyway...

My point is that D3 could very well be a landmark. It could influence many editors, and make them pressure their studios to prioritize the development of online-only games.

Yes, if all those studios pressure for online only DRM they will most likely fail similar to many of the PC ubisoft games. D3 sold so much because it is Diablo 3!