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Regarding various issues with Diablo III post-launch, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime took to the official forums to issue a statement. In particular, he acknowledges that the company underestimated Diablo III‘s launch numbers and the subsequent strain on servers. The company, says Morhaime, used historical data for multiple big-name sales, including past Blizzard titles, and scaled up from its own estimates. Obviously, this wasn’t quite enough, as he says that “we’ve never gone from 0 to more than 6 million players across multiple continents within a few days with a brand-new game.”

While he assured players that Blizzard will strive to do better in the future, more contentious issues were offered less clear-cut answers. On the ‘always online’ requirement, Morhaime said it was about more than piracy; that the requirement “is critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience” as this is tied to persistent characters, social features, and security. The auction house, in turn, was meant to assure players of a transaction’s legitimacy, given that items purchased may otherwise have come from an unsecured third party service. He added that Blizzard did not intend for players to feel the auction house was mandatory for basic gameplay.

He stated the company intends to keep improving and balancing the game, with plans in the works to give high-level players new goals beyond the typical item hunt.

Source: Joystiq