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Blizzard Aims to Shore Up WoW With Diablo Deal

Blizzard Entertainment Inc. is offering fans a free digital copy of the long-awaited next installment in the Diablo video game franchise with one catch: a one-year subscription to flagship title World of Warcraft.

The move could help revitalize a sagging revenue stream for the Irvine-based game maker, which has seen 900,000 gamers drop Warcraft subscriptions the last two quarters. Some 10.2 million customers pay about $15 a month to play the game online.

Blizzard, a unit of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc., posted revenue of $276 million in the December quarter, down nearly 52% from a year earlier.

The company reported an operating profit of $71 million, down 76% from a year ago.

Blizzard did not release a game last year. Sales and profits are expected to climb this quarter with the May 15 release of Diablo III.

Gamers in the U.S., Canada, Macau, Europe, Hong Kong, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan will get the first crack at retail purchase. Players in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil can buy a digital version via Blizzard’s Battle.net website.

The game will be available at retailers in Latin American and Russia on June 7.

Diablo III will be available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Macintosh for about $60. A multidisc collector’s edition will cost $100 with reams of bonus features and a 208-page Art of Diablo III book.

Diablo III players take the roll of barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter as they fight evil forces in a labyrinth of supernatural encounters and settings. The game be can be played in 11 languages, including Latin American Spanish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, English, French, Polish, German, Italian, Korean, European Spanish and traditional Chinese.

Diablo II, released in 2000, sold more than 1 million copies in the first two weeks, making it the fastest-selling game in history at the time. More than 4 million copies have sold to date.

Telogis Buy

Logistics software maker Telogis Inc. has acquired a Boston-based software maker that specializes in commercial fleet navigation.

The Aliso Viejo-based company purchased Maptuit Corp., which operates a research and development unit in Toronto that Telogis quickly tagged for expansion. Financial terms of the March transaction weren’t disclosed, but Telogis picked up about 30 employees and 100,000 customers.

Maptuit’s technology allows companies to specify “known good” routes and yard approaches, improving the safety of route operations, particularly in international markets.

Telogis uses global positioning systems and software to help companies with large fleets of delivery trucks create better routes, track shipments and deliveries, and cut costs. Its customers include government agencies, food and drink makers, oil and gas utilities and others.

The buy is the company’s fifth acquisition in three years. Telogis has more than $42 million in annual sales and now employs about 280 people in offices in Europe and Latin America, as well as development centers in Austin, Texas, and New Zealand.

Flat TV Sales

Irvine-based Vizio Inc. will likely see sales of liquid-crystal displays drop again this year, according to an industry forecast by El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp., a unit of IHS Inc.

Flat-panel TV sales in the U.S. are expected to decline 5% to 37.1 million units in 2012, which would mark the first drop since the market segment debuted more than a decade ago.

Shipments in 2011 peaked at 38.6 million units, up 1% from a year earlier. The flat-panel market includes liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs, plasma-screen sets and rear-projection TVs.

Vizio lost its market share lead last year to South Korea-based Samsung Group in the segment of LCDs, the most prevalent flat TVs. Vizio saw LCD TV sales in North America fall 44% last year, while Samsung grew sales 17.2%.

LCD shipments are projected to weaken the next three years. Vizio aims to lessen its reliance on the TV market, as it tries to build share in the tablet, desktop computer and notebook segments—all new product lines for the company.

The flat TV market has leveled off from its boom the last few years.

TV sales in the U.S. now are mostly dependent on consumers replacing their older flat-panel sets with newer models with advanced features such as Bluetooth, 3-D, Wi-Fi and other connected technologies, according to IHS analyst Lisa Hatamiya.

“This contrasts with developing regions of the world, where vibrant, untapped markets remain for buyers making their first-ever purchase of flat-panel sets,” Hatamiya said.

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