2 million turned out for Diablo III open beta, Plus 10 million sign-ups for Call of Duty Elite

[DainBramaged]

In a call discussing Activision Blizzard's recent quarterly earnings, Activision Publishing president Mike Morhaime announced that over 2 million players took part in Diablo III's "stress test" open beta last month.

The company previously revealed that the servers peaked at 300,000 simultaneous users in the weekend test, during which many players saw periodic problems logging in. In a recent pre-launch FAQ for the game, the company warned that players may see login delays of up to 40 seconds during the game's May 15 launch, as it adjusts the login rate to maintain stability.

Activision Blizzard also revealed some mind-boggling statistics for the record-breaking Call of Duty franchise. Over 10 million people are now signed up for its premium Call of Duty Elite service (up 40 percent since the end of January), including 2 million annual members (up 33 percent since January). Those players have logged over 1.6 billion hours playing Modern Warfare 3, and the franchise as a whole currently sees 40 million active players each month.

Other stats from Activision Blizzard's earnings call:

•Skylander: Spyro's Adventure has now sold over 30 million toys over its lifetime.
•World of Warcraft has stabilized at 10.2 million subscribers, equal to the number reported last quarter but down from 11 million reported a year ago.
•1.2 million players have signed up for a World of Warcraft annual pass and taken part in the Mists of Pandaria beta.
•The company recorded $1.17 billion in revenues, down from $1.45 billion from the year before, but beating the expectations of both analysts and the company itself.
.http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2012/05/2-million-turned-out-for-diablo-iii-open-beta/


Midnight, May 15th (next Monday night) it begins again. 1.2 MILLION of us signed up for the annual pass which gives us DIII for free, but for those who will be buying the game, it is going to be an interesting night. When you don't have money to go out, stay home and play!

[roody]

1. And it is teachers' fault that so many

students cannot read, write, listen, and speak proficiently.

[DainBramaged]

3. Whose fault was it in the 50's 60's 70's and 80's?

My brilliant beautiful daughter taught herself to read at the age of three by looking at the game guides for Nintendo 64. Imagine our surprise when she brought a book over to us and started to read to us showing how Mario could defeat Bowser. You have no idea what that felt like.


Your assumption is baseless. And probably because you don't understand gaming.

[mathematic]

4. Must be because those teachers are playing video games

According to industry figures, 82% of video game players are adults. 37% are adult women. Time to toss those old video game stereotypes.

Personally, I'm eagerly awaiting diablo III. I'm even going to get a case of beer to enjoy while I read and listen to the game's story.

[KitSileya]

6. Well, this 36-year old female teacher certainly does.

::raises hand:: I play WoW, and while I suck at dungeons, have much fun levelling my alts.

[DainBramaged]

10. Nice

Restarted playing last August. Play a few hours a week still. And being that my primaries are hunters, I enjoy dungeons.

[DainBramaged]

8. My daughter, who works for Game Stop agrees

I just called her. She stated more than 75% of the customers she deals with are adults, and not because they are buying for their children. And adults were the driving force behind the success of XBox. And behind the success of Wii. Who do they show in commercials for the games and/or gaming systems? Adults. The exception to the rule was the Sims in all flavors. I read that 76% of the players are teen-age girls. Ask the sellers of Facebook games who they appeal to.


Maybe if more kids had access to gaming systems they'd be smarter.

[roody]

14. They have access. I teach

kids who are two or more years behind academically. It's mostly boys and they can all spell Call of Duty. But they can't spell 'and.'

[Blue_Tires]

2. eh...I'm waiting for Grand Theft Auto V

COD just doesn't do it for me...

[quinnox]

5. not a fan of those

I'm more of the hard core rpg game player, not action rpgs.

[seabeyond]

7. can you give me some names?

i am not a gamer, at all, but i have three in my house that are. i am trying to "learn", lol though probably hopeless.

[quinnox]

9. sure

Oblivion, Morrowind, Gothic, those are some more well known ones.

I also play old school type rpgs that even many gamers probably have never heard of - Eschalon, Avadon

If you want to learn about these games a good website is www.rpgwatch.com

[DainBramaged]

11. GOG

http://www.gog.com/

[seabeyond]

12. to both you and dain.... thanks. my youngest, 14, is into these type games. really likes oblivion

summer approaching, he has been looking for a new one. i am particular. but older ones sound promising, too.

i appreciate it. i will check those out. and the site.

[Lars39]

13. I am totally hooked on Oblivion.

Not sure I'll move on to Skyrim...looks too bloody for me.