Blizzard removes language support from Russian Diablo III keys

Games.On.Net is reporting that Blizzard has removed multi-language support for the Russian version of Diablo III via a patch.

The news comes via a large CD-key seller. This has forced gamers who bought Russian CD keys to play the game in Russian. The issue is also being widely discussed on the official Battle.Net forums, with gamers residing in countries like Spain, Brazil and Italy among others complaining about it.

Blizzard responded on the matter saying that the "cheaper limited version" of the Russian game is locked to Russian, but the "full version" does contain multi-language support. However, users encountering the issue claim to have bought the "standard version" of the game, and asked Blizzard to explain the difference between the two. Blizzard is yet to respond to those queries.

Reportedly, all Russian versions were running properly until June 8, when Blizzard removed other languages. The story also claims that Blizzard sold the keys at wholesale prices "promising that they were multi-language and region free", and that as a result "over one hundred distributors in Russia" may now face "millions of dollars worth of losses."

A group of affected distributors have come together to form a website called Diabloclaim.com, which allows users who had purchased a Russian key of Diablo III to sign a petition requesting Blizzard to unlock language support for the title. "If enough petition signatures are signed, the distributors will go to court to Blizzard and sue them for damages (sic)".

The petition has been signed by 2749 people at the time of writing.