[quote=Etruscan]
Are you kidding? Around 20 years ago, you had Diablo 2, BG2, Neverwinter Nights, Planescape Torment, Fallout 2, Deus Ex, Icewind Dale, Divine Divinity. The shooter craze wasn't as ubiquitous so they were relatively way more popular. It seems people only recently regained interest in CRPG, but it is but a grain of salt in the modern gaming landscape.
Second is your opinion, can't argue with taste.
Third, it is for sure the most popular CRPG developer of today. I can't think of any other game similar to DoS 2 which broke its 5 million+ sale.
Sorry I can't agree with your suggestion that more people were playing CRPGS back then; from your list the majority are D&D games and they were by their nature and especially at that time incredibly niche. D&D was not mainstream back then and other genres of video game were far more, and continue to be, more popular.
Diablo was an action RPG so I don't think it can truly be put in the same bracket as BG et al. I suspect the reason it was so successful was because it appealed to people who wouldn't normally touch a more traditional CRPG as they were considered too complex/slow/too much dialogue, etc etc.
Also games like Skyrim (and The Witcher for a more action RPG take) had mass appeal so again I think they provide a counter point to your argument that only recently people regained an interest in CRPGs.
One can't deny the sales of DoS but I think you have to take into account things like increase in population and accessibility to/interest in video gaming compared to 20 years ago. The statistic on its own stands for relatively little.
