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Activision Blizzard The company said the new Diablo video game smashed $666 million in global sales in five days Wednesday.
The company added that Diablo IV, which launched on June 6, has become Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary’s fastest-selling game of all time. The record-breaking sales provide some solace as the company faces a pending battle with the Federal Trade Commission over a planned acquisition Microsoft.
The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the deal in federal court in California, while the UK’s Competition Market Authority has already said it will block the deal. Even with European regulatory approvals, the planned acquisition faces a lengthy appeals process.
At the heart of the CMA’s denial were concerns about Microsoft’s dominance in the cloud gaming space, with its Xbox Game Pass. The global cloud gaming market generated $5.1 billion in revenue in 2022, but it has been growing sharply year after year.
Microsoft dominates the space and, with the potential acquisition of Activision, will be able to create popular franchises beyond Diablo exclusively for Microsoft’s cloud platform, the CMA said. Microsoft plans to appeal the CMA’s decision and will file a lawsuit against the FTC’s order.
Diablo IV is not available on Game Pass, an Activision executive said He said in March. Marquee franchises from other companies, including Electronic Arts’ FIFA and Madden lines, as well as Microsoft’s own offerings, are also available on Game Pass.
The sales record, while breaking a Blizzard record, is not an industry record. In 2013, Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto V brought in $1 billion in sales in its first three days of sales, while Red Dead Redemption topped out at $725 million in revenue in 2013. Three days When it was launched in 2018.
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