Poor Aussie Diablo III fans who pre-ordered the game then lost their money (and game!) when retailer GAME went into administration yesterday, you're suddenly in luck. Blizzard will be footing the bill, and getting you the games you paid for.


The company has issued a statement that basically says "if you kept your receipt, buy the game again and we'll give you your lost money back".

We're aware that some Australian GAME customers have been left out in the cold on what should be the hottest night of the year — the launch of Diablo III. To help with this situation and get these players into the game as soon as possible, we've put the following process in place. Australian GAME customers with a valid preorder/prepurchase receipt dated before May 15, 2012 can do the following:

1. Purchase the digital version of Diablo III from http://www.diablo3.com now or anytime before May 21, 2012. 2. Download and start playing when the servers go live! 3. Submit your GAME Australia preorder/prepurchase receipt to us before June 30, 2012. 4. Receive a credit from Blizzard, for the amount you paid in advance to GAME Australia for Diablo III. This credit will be applied to the payment method used for the digital purchase. We'll post further details here on how to submit your GAME Australia receipt to our customer service team as soon as possible. Stay tuned, and we look forward to seeing you in the Burning Hells!


Note that this is, in essence (assuming you had paid your preorder in full), a free game; the moment GAME entered administration, effectively going bust, those original preorders, and the money used to pay for them, was lost. Gone forever. This move is Blizzard, who didn't get a cent from the original lost payments, offering those affected a free, second copy.

Assuming those people would want to still get the game. I'm assuming the answer to that would be yes.

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Even for those who only put down $10 or $20, it's still a great offer, because same story, until earlier today that money had been presumed lost. They're getting the game, and they're getting the money back they thought they'd lost, saving a few bucks they otherwise wouldn't have.

Seeing as they had no obligation whatsoever to do this, and are in effect paying for somebody else's screw-up, that's a swell move on Blizzard's part.


UPDATE - I've changed the headline because too many Americans and Canadians weren't familiar with the term "shout"!