Amazon Declares Diablo III Its Most Preordered PC Game Ever

[John Funk]

Amazon Declares Diablo III Its Most Preordered PC Game Ever

You can probably guess which games it beat to get there.

It may be hard to believe, but we are a mere five days away from the release of Blizzard's long, long, long awaited dungeon-crawler, first announced in June 2008. People are already downloading their copies from Battle.net. And according to online mega-retailer Amazon.com, more people have preordered Diablo III than any other PC game it's ever sold.

The PC titles it surpassed to earn that lofty achievement, of course, are World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. It's probably a safe bet that the news has Blizzard's various development teams poking fun at each other over in Irvine, but then again, it's not like they're PC sales records [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103187-StarCraft-II-Sells-Three-Million-In-a-Month], either.

It would be interesting to know hard, concrete numbers for this sort of thing, or how D3 preorders compare to that of the record-setting Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops II [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117083-Black-Ops-II-Day-1-Preorders-Already-Beating-MW3s]. Of course, the Call of Duty series is available on three platforms, which might skew the results a bit.

This is, of course, only counting Amazon.com's numbers. It doesn't include anyone who buys the game via physical retail, orders it on Battle.net, or the WoW players who are getting the game free [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113795-World-of-Warcrafters-Can-Get-Diablo-3-Free]. It's a safe bet that come May 15th, anyone looking to tackle the evils of the Burning Hells won't be alone.

And now we understand why the game's launch might be a little sloppy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117151-Diablo-III-Launch-May-Get-Messy].

Holy hell guys, Diablo III is almost here. I need to start warming up my mouse-clicking finger.

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[Epona]

....and Blizzard is rewarded for their always online DRM and real money auction house. How many companies will follow suit?

 

[DeepComet5581]

Interesting to see the first 2 posts dumping on the game slightly.

All the hype, all the fancy updates, and I just don't want to get it. I don't want to spend that money on a game that definately won't live up to expectations and just doesn't.. evoke the same emotions with me that the original did.

So I find myself agreeing with them.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Huzzah!

Which reminds me, I need to buy a new mouse since mine is kinda crappy and probably won't last very long from all the clicking I will be doing....

I need to hurry on that because it's almost here!

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

And...I still won't be getting it, partly because I have no interest in the series and mostly because my desktop is old as fuck and cannot play it. I wouldn't like to play it on my laptop.

Looks alright, like to see how it turns out, after all the hype I've been hearing.

I have a perfectly functional PC, and I'm, like you, still not remotely interested in it; For me, I would guess the top down presentation is what breaks my immersion and changes my opinion of the game.

Also, the lore is fairly generic, and I'm not too fond of the combat.

 

[Eric the Orange]

And...I still won't be getting it, partly because I have no interest in the series and mostly because my desktop is old as fuck and cannot play it. I wouldn't like to play it on my laptop.

Looks alright, like to see how it turns out, after all the hype I've been hearing.

I have a perfectly functional PC, and I'm, like you, still not remotely interested in it; For me, I would guess the top down presentation is what breaks my immersion and changes my opinion of the game.

Also, the lore is fairly generic, and I'm not too fond of the combat.

It's nice to see someone complaining about Diablo 3 in a way that I haven't heard in every Diablo 3 related thread ever.

Seriously guys why do you make essentially the same comment on every one of these threads. We get it, your not getting the game (usually the always on line bit). Why keep repeating it?

 

[GeorgW]

I was hoping that people would take a stand against their always on DRM bullshit, but I should have known better. Hopefully it'll be good, personally I won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

 

[antipunt]

Honestly, I would never have played this game originally. I'm not a big fan of top-down, loot driven shtuff.

But...like...everyone's brother's sister's landlord's pet cat is playing it. I'll be missing out skype moments with friends, it'd be a travesty

damn peer pressure!

 

[Tsaba]

why does it have to be "most this" or "most that," can't we all just be happy that video games are doing well instead of feeling like we should be peer pressured into buying it because everyone else has?

 

[bobmus]

Eh, give me some reviews first. Not on board the hype train at all.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Great, I'm one of the people who preorder it from that site. What? it was the cheapest website that is selling it (I was looking at HMV, Play, Shopto, Zavvi and Thehut).

 

[AndyRock]

Personally, I played the beta, and didn't like it, which is strange, as I usually love the top down loot driven RPGs (titan quest being a favorite), but I just didn't like Diablo 3... Seems I'm going to be the odd one out among my friends.

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

I really needed it after playing ME3. Should be good. Amazon will deliver it soon I hope.

 

[Summerstorm]

Hm... this is surprising.... i mean when i played the open beta of Diablo 3, i was so massively disappointed with it.

I mean, yeah surely it will sell well. But really?

 

[UnderGlass]

Yeah. Count me among those who who won't be sailing the diabolical seas to carpal tunnel island. I'm not trying to be a buzzkill but I find it interesting how many commenters are so patently unimpressed considering the pedestal this franchise has held for so long. It will undoubtedly be highly polished and supremely addictive. Personally I think it's attractive, if somewhat typical (having a distinct, cohesive art-style is one thing but not all your games need to resemble one another) and I'm sure the whole auction house business will be incredibly successful.

Basically Blizzard haven't taken a single false step in releasing a game that will surely rake in bazillions in long-term profit.

And yet why does it seem kind of stale and cynical? Less lovingly, hand-crafted art polished to a sheen and more smooth, sterile plastic, measured and molded with mathematical precision to probe emotional buttons.

Don't know really, but it's more an emotional response for me than the accumulation of specific wrongs. Perhaps 5 years is just too long for the hype (I was really looking forward to this game) to be maintained. The result just can't justify the development time for me, nor the build up, and ultimately strikes me as curiously lifeless. The always online palava and the real money auction house only put a couple of names to my general unease. Anyone else feeling this?

 

[ElectroJosh]

I'll play it first and then decide. I did pre-order it because I enjoyed the first two a lot and want to experience the new one.

I don't care too much about the auction house - its a feature I will, most likely, completely ignore (unless I stumble upon some loot that is in high demand - maybe I'll consider selling it). But the "always online" thing is a bit annoying (although if I'm ever offline at home it will probably mean the power is down as well so it should bother me too much).

Either way I'm keen to get started as a demon hunter and take down hell's minions once again.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I was hoping that people would take a stand against their always on DRM bullshit, but I should have known better. Hopefully it'll be good, personally I won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

People "taking a stand" against DRM are hilarious. It's an online game, therefore it requires a connection. SHOCKING!

Should it have an offline mode as well? Probably. Is it the end of the world "Oh my God this changes my opinion of the game entirely" sort of issue? Not even close.