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Blizzard Entertainment has apologised for the server outages that have left people unable to play Diablo 3, which demands an active internet connection dialled into its online servers, since its launch on Tuesday.
“We want to sincerely apologise for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one,” said Blizzard, adding that “our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough”.
Diablo 3’s servers buckled shortly after the game’s launch at 23:00 GMT on Monday. Many players have received, amongst other problems, the dreaded Error 37 – the tell-tale sign that the servers are full.
“Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system,” added Blizzard – admitting to reports that Diablo 3’s achievements weren’t always working as intended.
In response to these current issues, Blizzard has elected to delay the launch of its controversial real-money auction house “in order to make sure everything is continuing to run as it should”. The service was scheduled to go live on May 22, but no new date was provided by the publisher.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom: “As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly.”
Blizzard’s statement in full:
Diablo Players:
We’d like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who joined the global Diablo III launch celebrations this week, as well as to everyone who was ready to jump into Sanctuary the moment the game went live.
To that end, we’d also like to say that we’ve been humbled by your enthusiasm – and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure. As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game’s launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough.
We’ve been monitoring the game 24/7 and have applied several optimizations to help our systems better weather the global rush. As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly. We’re continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvements for each region.
In order to make sure everything is continuing to run as it should, we’ve decided to move out our target launch for the real-money auction house beyond our original estimated date of May 22. We’ll post further updates on that in the near future.
Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system. Some players began to notice early on that achievements were either not being earned properly, or not being saved between multiple logins. We’re investigating this issue and will provide a specific update as soon as possible.
We greatly appreciate everyone’s support, and we want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one. Please visit the Battle.net Support site or Support forums for the latest service-related updates or for help in troubleshooting any technical issues you may be having downloading, installing, or while playing the game.
Thank you again for your patience while we reinforce the gates of Sanctuary and further strengthen it for your onslaught.
Respectfully,
Blizzard Entertainment.
Diablo 3 launched on Monday night and you’ll find photos from the launch in our Diablo 3 launch gallery.
