Activision Blizzard Announces Diablo III Open Beta Weekend

Video gaming giant Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) has announced the launch of Diablo III open beta weekend, which offers open access of the game to all players with a valid Battle.net account from Friday 19th to Monday 23rd. ^[1] We believe the move will not just help Blizzard in managing server volumes thereby helping to ensure a smooth day-one experience, but is also an ideal marketing platform if the game strikes a chord with the early gamers. Activision Blizzard competes with other game developers like Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA), Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) and casual gaming mainstays such as  Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA).

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Blizzard betting big on Diablo III

Diablo III marks Blizzard’s big aim into RPG space after a considerable span of time. The company is betting big on the game and wants to be immaculate in its preparations for both the game as well as its marketing. Until now the its  efforts have reaped good gains as Diablo III continues to dominate U.S. pre-ordered games chart.

With the announcement of  open beta weekend for Diablo III, we believe Blizzard is targeting two major objectives. First, Blizzard wants to ensure that the mega launch of Diablo III on May 15th will be glitch free. The company wants to remove server volume management problems, if there are any alongside removing any other technical bugs that may come in the game play.

Second and equally important, the company wants to promote Diablo III through word of mouth marketing. RPG gamers are always characterized by their involvement in gaming community forums, and a satisfied bunch of pre-order gamers can greatly help the company in pulling additional customers towards Diablo III.

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1. Diablo III open beta weekend, Source: Battle.net [↩]