Diablo 3 to sell 3.5 million in 2012 says analyst

Arvind Bhatis of Stern Agee said today that he expects Diablo 3 to be a catalyst that will push Activision Blizzard's stock price up. He said that even releasing after twelve years it still has the potential to sell 4 million units in its lifetime.

With all due respect to the man, that sounds like a pretty ridiculously low number. Diablo is an incredibly popular series that sells well all over the world. And now it's backed by the ever-increasing reputation of Blizzard. GamesRadar's resident analyst (read: whoever happens to be writing the article) thinks this guy is underestimating the staying power of an Blizzard game.

Here at GamesRadar we've probably bought 2-3 copies each of Diablo 2 over the years, because 12 years later it's still that freakin' good. Twelve years later you can still find the Diablo bundle pack on Best Buy store shelves. What's more, all the way in 2008, the Diablo Battle Chest was still number 18 on the top-selling PC games chart.

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We'll have to wait and see, but we'd be shocked if Diablo 3 only sold 0.5 million copies from 2013 onward. About a month ago, an analyst from Cowen and Company predicted 5 million sales in just the first year. Now that sounds like a more reliable figure.