After Activision’s Blizzard studios launched the highly anticipated PC game on May 15, players had problems logging on and said their accounts were being hacked.

“Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough,” the company said in an apology issued last week. Yesterday, the company issued another statement, confirming that some accounts “may have been compromised.”

In addition to selling 3.5 million copies on day one, Activision said more than 1.2 million players received Diablo III as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion. Based on that total, internal calculations and reports from distribution partners, Activision believes this makes Diablo III the biggest PC game launch in history.

By the end of the first week, Diablo sales reached 6.3 million. The game costs $60 for either the physical copy or the digital version.

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,” said Blizzard’s CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime. “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”

In the game, players take on one of five heroic characters — barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk or demon hunter. As that character, they must save the world of Sanctuary from the forces of the Burning Hells. As they engage in the virtual world, players gain new abilities and acquire artifacts.

For the first time ever, those artifacts can be traded for real-world currency through an auction house.

During the company’s first-quarter conference call two weeks ago, it confirmed that consumer feedback from the beta test had gone well, especially when it came to the new trading method.

Blizzard does not intend to sell any items in the auction house, in contrast to other game models where companies profit from selling in-game virtual goods. But interestingly, Blizzard will charge players a transaction fee on sales, or roughly 15 percent on most items.

With the rise of so-called “crowdfunding,” game makers are finding fans online who are willing to pledge a few bucks toward a game they’d like to see produced.

The primary site where these connections are being made is Kickstarter, a three-year old company. Since Kickstarter got off the ground, the games category has garnered $29 million in pledges, according to the New York Times. Other popular categories include film/video, music and design.

Further, it was reported that 854 game developers successfully reached their fundraising goals, raising an average of $29,409 apiece.

Most impressively, three game companies have raised more than $1.5 million each since the beginning of this year: Double Fine raised $3.3 million from 87,000 backers; Wasteland 2 raised $2.9 million; and Shadowrun Returns secured $1.8 million.

Another site, Gambitious, which will be exclusively dedicated to helping game companies raise money, is preparing to launch on June 5 in Los Angeles as part of E3, the industry’s big annual conference.

The shift to nontraditional fundraising is now even catching the eye of megapublishers like Electronic Arts. Last week, EA said developers who crowdsourced funding will be able to sell their games on Origin at no cost for three months.

Origin is the company’s online game store, which allows users to download PC games electronically and counts up to 12 million users worldwide.

“The public support for crowdfunding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal,” said David DeMartini, EA’s SVP of Origin, in a release. “It’s also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. Gamers around the world deserve a chance to play every great new game.”

EA doesn’t disclose how much it charges because it says fees can vary, but through this program, developers will now receive 100 percent of sales during the 90-day window plus any pre-sales that are generated before the title officially launches, a spokesman confirmed.

It’s unclear whether crowdfunding is a fad and consumers will tire of it quickly, and to be clear, not every company that requests money is able to get it.

But it pairs nicely with a broader trend in the industry that AllThingsD’s Eric Johnson wrote about last week. He explained that game developers are increasingly finding it advantageous to stay small, rejecting the notion that productions need big budgets in order to create blockbusters.

The evolution has been aided by the rise of three new distribution platforms, Apple’s App Store, Facebook and Valve’s Steam Store (and to a lesser extent, EA’s Origin, which is catching up). With these digital platforms, developers can reach customers without having to package up their software and sell it at retail, saving thousands of dollars.

With the crowdfunding phenomenon completely under way, Videogame Analyst and Consultant Scott Steinberg saw the opportunity to write an e-book on the subject called “Crowdfunding Your Business: A How-To Guide.” In the recently released book, he argues that crowdfunding helps developers identify projects that consumers are willing to pay for, before they’ve wasted the money and time on developing them.

He writes that by “requesting feedback or recruiting help from public donors via open calls for assistance — you can gauge demand for and create bankable products from day one.”

The winners for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards are decided on by members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. (Just like the Oscars are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

The ceremony covers mostly hardcore genres across console and PC, including action games, massive multiplayer games, adventure games and more. It also has categories for casual, mobile and social. (Update: See a list of some winners at the end of this post.)

The event is taking place in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Resort, a swank location way off the Strip, where industry leaders gather annually as part of the games conference called DICE.

DICE, which stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain, is a three-day summit featuring a number of talks by bigwigs from game studios like Bethesda Softworks, which published The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham City, which were both wildly successful over Christmas.

Because the show is far off the Strip and only has a few hundred attendees, it allows people to speak intimately about recent trends and key issues facing the industry. They even get to pat each other on the back; this morning, one grown man got on stage and bowed in front of some of the original game developers who worked at Atari back in the 80s.

The event tonight will be hosted by actor and stand-up comedian Jay Mohr, a former cast member on “Saturday Night Live” and self-described games enthusiast, who is known for roasting some of the industry celebrities being recognized.

The ceremony kicks off at 7:30 pm PT. To follow along, GameSpot will air a live Webcast of the IAAs here.

Update: Here are the winners from some of the major categories:

• Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda Softworks
• Action Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision
• Online Game Play: Star Wars: The Old Republic, Electronic Arts
• Mobile Game: Infinity Blade II, Epic Games
• Sports Game: FIFA 12, Electronic Arts
• Social Networking: The Sims Social, Electronic Arts
• Casual Game: Fruit Ninja Kinect, Halfbrick Studios