3 reasons Diablo III set PC sales record

May 29th, 2012

Almost five million gamers purchased Diablo III on the first day alone, making it the fastest-selling PC game on record. Here's why, according to Jared Newman of PC World:

  1. You could pre-install it. Not only could you pre-order, purchase, and download Diablo III, you could further buy into the hype by installing the game before the servers went live, all without ever leaving your desk. "This wasn't just a pre-order," Newman says, "It was a pre-launch."
  2. Perfect timing. Like most things in life, PC gaming is cyclical, Newman argues. As for the timing of Diablo III, it comes at the aging of consoles. And when consoles are old, casual consumers gravitate and buy more PC gaming. In other words, "Right now is prime time for PC gaming (to reach a maximum number of players), and Diablo III capitalized on this."
  3. Gamers have cooled on RPGs a bit. This one's a bit of a stretch, but Newman argues that the mainstreamification of RPGs in recent years worked in Diablo III's favor. I'd say pent up demand of 12 years had more to do with it, but it is refreashing to see hack and slash do as well as traditional RPGs, shooters, and strategy games have done on the platform.

More importantly though, Diablo III is just a really fun game. What do you think: What's the real reason Diablo III has done so well, botched launch aside?  

Read more: PC gaming headlines

Comments

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This is also a sequel that brings back many nostalgic memories. The people I know who didn't play D2 were convinced to buy D3 from them, not because of a marketing campaign or good previews.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
gansch
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Yeah agreed mostly on the third part of this article. When the masses get used to blockbuster rpgs, ie mass effect and those apps in iphone, it really market rpg more appealing.

Im a lurker

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
Mikarmakn
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and you get disconnected and lag while trying to play single player

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
DrHojo123
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A huge part of the sales are probably from D2 players.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
s8man888
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It's also not going up against any big titles so that might help the sales out a little bit as well. I do believe that fans of Blizzard and D2 were the majority of the sales.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
Addice
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Im pretty sure Diablo III would have sold just as much, regardless of pre installing, timing and "cooling" on RPG's.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
HellinPelican
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D2 player so it was natural for me to get D3. And there hasn't been anything like it for 12 years.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
godfreyawesome
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people were bored

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
Ogrewax
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What game did better SC2 or D3?

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
lozz21
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I have to say that the huge hype over the game helped it out in my opinion. I never played Diablo before but the crazy hype over it by everyone forced me to buy it to try. I was not disappointed.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
Trmptonfire
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gansch said: This is also a sequel that brings back many nostalgic memories. The people I know who didn't play D2 were convinced to buy D3 from them, not because of a marketing campaign or good previews.


I nostalgia everywhere

If violent videos games taught me how to read.Would educational video games teach me how to destroy.

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Posted Tuesday, May 29th, 2012    Quote This Post
Thernandez8080
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Regardless of the reasons it is a really good games.

xXNoobtubedXx

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
Noobtubed06
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Yea, it just got its marketing together, and made a great sales record.

Sleep and I will steal your gold, Dream and I will steal your soul.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
FoxxM
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Blizz knows whats up, they created a "perfect storm" for D3. D3 is blizzs ace in the hole.

M17x R4 i7 7970 www.facebook.com/sizzackz

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
dave427
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Nostalgia definitely plays a huge part in this success. The timing of this release, which was mentioned, was also very beneficial to sales.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
ownageville
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Not sure if nostalgia played a huge part ... how many really played diablo 2 .... ?

"It's Nice To Be Important , But It's More Important To Be Nice"

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
Sky-Dexter
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Just stating my opinion, I do not believe preorder/predownload/preinstall had much to do with the sales though. Most knew what they were buying. Alot of buyers are from the D2 generation, and those who were not, have played wow(at-least at some point) and knew what blizzard was about(much hated and discussed, but you cant argue with their success with all of their titles/bestsellers.

I just don't think a COD black ops player who never played wow or d2 bought this, because it was Pre-anything. So the console-to-Pc, is a bit of a stretch(like the article said).

Nostalgia? You bet :)

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
stoposto
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It is a Blizzard game. Those always sell well.

New forums... Soon™

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
definewikipedia
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The game console industry has slowed down from it's heyday. Back in the age of the N64 and such. When each year there was always a new version of the Game Boy, or a new console. With the excitement of having something new (different control types, game appearance, you know, stuff that comes with a better system) and the fact that computers have advanced just as much as the game consoles, if not more, lead to PC gaming to become more prominent. None of this is based on anything at all and I just felt like saying why I felt like PC gaming has become more popular in recent years.

19
Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
Javanos
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It's a Blizzard title and D2 veterans ache to play a sequel to the game. That already creates the credible target market.
WoW players would also dwell into D3 considering the similarities and favoritism D3 possesses.

Press any key to continue...

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
RDemon15
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Близарды всегда делали хорошие игры. И не часто их выпускают. Так что каждый их продукт - хит.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
dreamangel1990
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Blizzard doesn't have that high speed realeasing pace as say, Infinity Ward and Treyarch with CoD games. People don't get fed up with new game every year and Blizzard is known for quality.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
soltsu
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I think the pre-install is probably the most important reason.
I went and downloaded it the day before i went live and I know a bunch of friends who did the same.

www.fireforeffectcomic.com

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
AlexTHVK
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Of the 7 million who have bought the game 6 million wont be back. For a AAA title the game has hardly any content. After normal mode (which can be completely cleared in 4 hours and that's taking your time to enjoy it) there is absolutely nothing new to see or do.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
Bossblood
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If Diablo would be for free, I think the whole world would play it realy.

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Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012    Quote This Post
denischu
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