HMV: Diablo III our biggest ever product launch

The Diablo III launch event at HMV Oxford Street was the retailer’s biggest to date, says games boss Ewan Pinder.

He estimates at least 1,000 fans queued up at the High Street chain’s flagship London store last night to purchase the game first. It went on sale at 11pm with developers on stage signing copies.

There were plenty of point-of-sale materials and people dressed up in-store to celebrate the release of the long-awaited PC and Mac RPG.

"The launch of Diablo III has to rank alongside World of Warcraft as our biggest ever official product launch at an HMV store,” said HMV’s head of technology and games Ewan Pinder.

"We estimate that at least 1,000 fans queued patiently and with good humour for many hours – including in the rain – with the first diehards arriving as early as Friday night. Only games have the power and the passion to deliver this kind of result and level of engagement.

"I have to congratulate the guys at Activision Blizzard on such a spectacular and epic launch and on staging some of the best retail theatre I’ve ever seen. Big thanks also to our team at HMV and at the store for their fantastic support and, of course, not least to our wonderful customers who came along in such large numbers and helped to make this such a memorable, landmark event."