Blizzard’s Diablo III sells 3.5 million copies in first 24 hours

Gamers worldwide hacked and slashed their way through 3.5 million copies of Diablo III, a much anticipated fantasy role playing game from Blizzard Entertainment, within 24 hours of the title hitting store shelves May 15.

Blizzard, based in Irvine, announced the title in 2008, but the game was widely known to be in development for years prior, making it one of the longest games to be in development before its release.

The success came with unexpected downside. With millions of players storming Blizzard’s computer servers to play Diablo III online, many consumers reported difficulty in logging in to the game and problems with the game’s online performance. The complaints have since abated as Blizzard worked round-the-clock to resolve the hiccups.

Blizzard, a part of Activision Blizzard Inc., issued an apology to players May 17, and on Wednesday the studio’s chief executive, Mike Morhaime, echoed that sentiment in a statement, saying, “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience ...”

Aside from the initial technical glitches, Diablo III has been given relatively high marks by game critics. On average, the game earned 89 out 100 points on GameRankings and Metacritic, two sites that aggregate game reviews.

With the news Wednesday that Diablo III has also been among the fastest-selling titles for personal computers, it seems consumers agree with the critics.

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