You may be a journalist, & I am jealous because it would be my waking dream to write for a living, but u r stating obvious facts. CoD will also outsell every other game this year. But, just as Battlefield 3 has begun to chip away at CoD's numbers, & WoW is beginning to see some real competition, games like torchlight 2 are invaluable. Their initial imperitive isn't profit. Yes, they would love to be profitable but because their numbers aren't carved in stone prior to launch, they must work really hard to separate themselves. Thus, no forced online play etc.

I am really hoping that they succeed. I, for one, can almost be sure that I will enjoy this game more and get more replay out of it. Yeah, maybe its subconscious and I am pulling for the.underdog, but with the right marketing and word of mouth, many Diablo fans may really want to play this game whether they know it yet or not.

Even if it isn't the juggernaut that Diablo is, I guarantee it will put pressure on them. T2 will garner a hardcore following that will demand concessions from Diablo. If not, oh well. At least as a gamer, I know I am going to have one hell of a time.