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Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Activision Blizzard’s new Diablo video game broke $666 million in global sales in the span of five days, the company said on Wednesday.
Diablo IV, which launched on June 6, has become Activision subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment’s fastest selling game ever, the company added. The record-breaking sales provide small solace as the company faces a pending battle with the Federal Trade Commission over a planned acquisition by Microsoft.
The FTC has sued to block the deal in California federal court, while the United Kingdom’s Competition Market Authority has already said it will block the deal. Even with European regulatory approvals, the planned acquisition faces a protracted appeals process.
At the heart of the CMA’s denial were concerns about Microsoft’s domination of the cloud gaming space, through its Xbox Game Pass. The global cloud-gaming market generated $5.1 billion in 2022 revenue, but has sharply grown year-over-year.
Microsoft dominates the space, and with a possible Activision acquisition would be able to make popular franchises beyond Diablo exclusive to Microsoft’s cloud platform, the CMA said. Microsoft plans to appeal the CMA decision and will be litigating the FTC injunction.
Diablo IV isn’t available on Game Pass, an Activision executive said in March 2023. Marquee franchises from other companies, including Electronic Arts’ FIFA and Madden lines, as well as Microsoft’s own offerings are available on Game Pass.
The sales record, while record-breaking for Blizzard, is not an industry record. In 2013 Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto V saw sales of $1 billion in its first three days of sales, while its Red Dead Redemption crossed $725 million in revenue in three days when it launched in 2018.
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