Analyst firm Cowen & Company expects upcoming Blizzard titleto sell 5 million units in its first year on sale.Blizzard revealed today that Diablo III will launch on May 15 , with presales of the game now available via the official website. The game is one of the biggest highlights on Activision Blizzard's release list for 2012, and is developed by the company behind mega-franchisesandCowen analyst Doug Creutz suggestswill sell 5 million within its first year.players can receivefor free by purchasing aAnnual Pass, and Creutz says that around 1 million of that total will come from this deal.However, Creutz said that Cowen & Co is not attributing "meaningful impact" to Activision's financial results with regards to the game's real-money auction house system , as he notes that the firm cannot yet predict the popularity of the system.Thefranchise, including expansion packs, has sold over 20 million units life-to-date. The originaldebuted in 1996.Creutz also explained in his latest report that he continues to rate Activision Blizzard's shares as 'Outperform' thanks to the company's strong upcoming line-up of games, including the aforementionedandIn particular, he noted that theseries will continue to dominate the FPS space, while Activision'sfranchise will build on its initial success.He also said that Westernsubscriptions are finally stabilizing, after the game saw sub numbers drop last year . Overall, Creutz believes Activision's shares will outperform by 20 percent over the next 12 months.