Fallout New Vegas director's first D&D RPG launched on the same day as Diablo 2, "which sounds like it would be catastrophically bad," but it ended up helping it instead

A screenshot from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition.
(Image credit: Beamdog / Black Isle Studios)

Fallout New Vegas dir♋ector Josh Sawyer has suggested that Diablo 2 actuaꦓlly helped drive sales for his first D&D RPG, Icewind Dale, by launching on the same day.

According to Wikipedia, Diablo 2 launched on June 28 while I𒁏cewind Dale launched a day later on June 29, but the sentiment still stands that the two games launched very, very closely to one another. And in an interview with , Sawyer acknowledged the perception that an RPG like Icewind Dale from a relatively small studio (at the time) launching at the same time as a juggernaut sequel like Diablo 2 would not be good for the former's sales.

"Icewind Dale launched on the same day as Diablo 2, which sounds like it would be catastrophically bad, but it actually did pretty well," Sawyer said, suggesting quite the opposite:🅺 that the timing actually benefitted Icewind Dale. "There were lines and lines of people to get Diablo 2, but a lot of them were into fantasy and isometric games, so they were like, 'Icewind𓄧 Dale - what's this? Yeah, we'll pick that up too."

These days, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:video game release dates are shuffled around frequently to avoid clashing with other launches. Probably the most high-profile example I can think of in recent memory is 🎃Larian moving around Baldur's Gate 3's 💫release plans to avoid clashing with Starfield. Last year, THQ Nordic delayed survival horror game Alone in the Dark out of 2023 enti🌠rely because there were "too many amazing games" launching that year, and boy, ain't that the truth.

Now get our of your own way and go play the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs out there.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corpora🦩te copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021ꦦ. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.