Diablo - Happy Birthday?

Blue's News saw that GOG was wishing a Happy Birthday to a 25-year-old Diablo. They have doubts about the date, however.

Happy Birthday Diablo

GOG.com is wishing Diablo a happy birthday, saying the classic hack-and-slash action/RPG arrived 25 years ago today on December 31, 1996. This disagrees with Wikipedia, which says the game's initial North American release came on January 3, 1997. We'd like to corroborate this in our archive, but in the earliest days of this site games that were not first-person shooters (at times specifically Quake) were still off topic. It was also much harder to pin down these things in those days as there were shipping dates and shelf dates for these things we used to call "stores." But either way, we're right onto the quarter-century mark for this seminal game. GOG.com is offering a sale on Diablo + Hellfire to celebrate. Here's word:

Diablo, the game that changed the RPG landscape forever, was released 25 years ago – on 31st December 1996. This anniversary is a great opportunity for you to find out that even after a quarter of a century this unique game still holds up to its huge legacy.