Blizzard has offered refunds to the South Korean Diablo 3 players as compensation for the log-in problems and slow connections that were experienced on the day of its PC launch.
The America-based developer has accepted responsibility for the rocky launch of the PC game in the region and has already made an announcement regarding its refund policy on its Korean website.
According to Wall Street Journal’s translation of Korean Blizzard’s post, players under level 40 are eligible to apply for refund starting June 25 to July 4.
It further went on to state that after the first phase, another refund policy will be enforced that would allow players to claim refund within 14 days of purchasing Diablo 3, provided their character is still under level 20.
The highly-anticipated launch of the third instalment in the Diablo franchise in South Korea saw the excitement of fans evaporate quickly and get replaced with frustration instead as they struggled to access the game after the servers went down in the region due to a massive surge in traffic.
Fortunately for the South Korean players, the country has protection laws in place to protect them in circumstances such as the Diablo 3 launch fiasco. The country’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) investigated the entire issue and managed to produce documents that revealed that Blizzard was aware of its on-going server issues prior to its launch in South Korea. Despite holding the knowledge of the lack of capacity on the servers, the America-based developer had gone ahead with the sales of Diablo 3.
The head of South Korea’s Internet PC Culture Association and the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism were also set to assert pressure on Blizzard Korea by planning a class-action lawsuit against the studio. Their primary demand was for an increase in the number of servers for Diablo 3 in order to resolve the issue, while other demands included refunds for players who were no longer interested in getting a taste of the experience following the frustration and disappointment that they had to face on the day of launch.
The busy servers and slow connections has been an issue with Diablo 3 all across the globe, though Blizzard pointed out in a recent statement to Eurogamer that the service had stabilised significantly in recent time.
“As we announced previously, Diablo III represented the biggest PC-game launch in history and became the fastest-selling PC game of all time. However, as discussed in our earlier post-launch update, despite our very aggressive projections in terms of server infrastructure, Diablo III players initially experienced some difficulty logging in to the game due to the sheer number of people accessing our servers at the moment the game launched and at peak times.”
Going one step further than offering refunds to make up to the South Korean Diablo 3 purchasers, Blizzard has not only increased its servers but also offered a free 30-day trial for its real-time strategy game StarCraft 2.
Microsoft rejects settlement offer by Motorola Mobility in Xbox 360 lawsuit – Video Game News 
Metal Gear Solid 5 may be heading to the Xbox 360 – Rumour 
Sony executives take massive pay cuts after record losses
Sleeping Dogs to feature voices of Emma Stone and Lucy Liu
Dishonored developer voices concern over lack of variety in industry
PlayStation Vita getting Gran Turismo?
Zynga’s Bubble Safari runs at 60-fps on Facebook