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Diablo III release date

6,433 bytes added, 03:22, 23 January 2011
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As with all There is no Diablo III release date, and Blizzard titles, the has never given one. Not even a tentative one. Not even an estimate at one. When asked about a release date is, Blizzard employees give the same reply for all their games. <u>"When it's done." They do not make estimates in advance or give hints, at least not publicly. </u>
Diablo 3 release dates are often given/guessed at by media sources and especially by software merchants. These dates have no authority and exist solely to spur interest/pre-sales.
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/categories/category/release-date/ News items related to Diablo 3's] release date.
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=release-date Screenshot gallery of] (incorrect) estimated release dates.
 
 
==Beta Test Timeline==
 
After years of offering estimates that were often missed, Blizzard has grown even more conservative about offering release dates, and they no longer give any hint until they are positive that they can hit them. Hence Starcraft 2 and WoW:Cat did not get release dates until 2-3 months beforehand, when those titles were well into their beta tests. This makes the start of the beta a more useful measure of the release date than any actual release date announcement, and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated that Diablo III will be released about six months after the beta test begins.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]
 
 
==Blizzard's Leaked Product Schedule==
 
[[File:Bliz-schedule-rumor1.jpg|thumb|350px|Diablo III projection: Fourth Quarter 2011?]]
The image to the right "leaked" via a Chinese MMORPG site in late 2010.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-release-dates-leaked/] It's alleged to be an internal Blizzard document from April 2010, listing estimated dates for their upcoming product releases. Diablo III is listed for the fourth quarter 2011, a fact that gave lots of Diablo fans a huge burst of excitement. Despite the fact that Blizzard has time and time again proved that they never hit their own estimated release dates.
 
Even if the chart is authentic, the estimate of Fourth Quarter 2011 for Diablo III doesn't necessarily mean anything. Blizzard has along history of missing their projected release dates, which is why they no longer state them publicly. Even if the chart is real, and they were projecting December 2011 as of April 2010, that's no guarantee that Diablo III will be released at that time. In fact, given Blizzard's past flirtations with advance release dates, that's a pretty good guarantee Diablo III will <u>not</u> be ready by then.
 
The chart's estimates for Starcraft II and WoW:Cat proved accurate. However that's not saying too much, since both titles were in or nearly into beta testing in April 2010 (assuming the chart is legit), and SC2 was already out and WoW:Cat was imminent in September 2010 (assuming the chart was a fabrication at that time).
 
 
===Is It Legit?===
 
That's the big question. One that will probably never be answered publicly. Blizzard did not comment on it directly, and rumors about firings in their Chinese offices were just that; rumors.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/more-blizzard-china-info-leak-intrigue/]
 
The dates may or may not prove accurate, but that won't prove anything. Any knowledgeable fan could have estimated release dates in the ballpark of these for WoW expansions, Stacraft 2 expansions, and Diablo III expansions. Eighteen months apart is Blizzard's stated goal (one they've not yet managed to meet.)
 
So what would prove the legitimacy of this chart?
# If Blizzard admitted that it was legit, which they have not and will not do.
# If Starcraft: Phoenix is announced, whatever it is, and is released around the estimated time.
# If Titan is announced and released around the estimated time.
 
The chart got one excellent piece of supporting evidence in November 2010, when Blizzard confirmed that Titan was the codename for their unannounced but well-known secret next-gen MMORPG. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-confirms-titan-as-code-name-for-their-next-gen-mmo/] The project had long since been known about, but the code name "Titan" was brand new news when the chart was released.
 
 
==Fan Discontent==
 
One constant with every Blizzard game is a long development cycle, a lot of eager fans, and a substantial minority of fans who are very impatient. The most hardcore fans tend not to be so impatient, since they're following the game's development very closely, and can see the progress as it moves along. The most impatient ones tend to be more casual fans, who want the game, but who only hear news about it every now and then, via general gaming news sites. They tend to also see fake release dates, usually via online retailers, which they believe, not knowing any better. And then when the game isn't ready by those dates, they blame not themselves for being gullible, or the retailer for lying, but the game developers for being slow.
 
Examples of this kind of fan can be seen in comments about any game on general gaming site, or in the replies to a game's social media outlets, where not very knowledgeable fans tend to show up.
 
A good example of this came in a post on leading fansite Diii.net, when they quoted a bunch of fan comments on Blizzard's Diablo Facebook page. A few samples from that news item:[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/no-release-date-for-some-time/]
 
<blockquote>
* WE WANT A RELEASE DATE!
* How much longer do we have to wait? Sacred 3 will be out before D3 at this rate….
* I WANT TO KNOW WHEN IS IT GONNA COME OUT !!!! FREAKING OUT OVER HERE !!!
* how about..just release it…
* Okay I have waited long enough! I want my diablo 3 now please
* Give me the release date and NOBODY gets hurt…seriously…
* Just release it!!! :D
* release it please !
* you guys already changed the release date a billion times now… just get it over with and stop lying about it and actually make a release date that STICKS
* How about you just progress with the game… stop wasting time tweeting.
* GET DIABLO 3 GOING ALREADY!!!!!!!!!
</blockquote>
 
Blizzard's company PR policy never to link out to fansites or wikis does a lot to feed this sort of behavior, since their official game sites, especially pre-release, have decent game info, but virtually zero game news. If you look around the [http://www.diablo3.com official Diablo III site] you'll find lots of pretty pictures and very polished looking game features, but no links to regular news sources, no links to developer interviews, nothing about development progress, or timelines, or a release date, or a beta test, etc. Naturally the fans who rely only on Blizzard's own sites, and general gaming sites, are going to expect the game to be done soon, since all they see looks nearly release-ready, and they're not told otherwise by anyone in authority.
==Diablo III Beta Test==
Blizzard has The D3 Team regularly referred refered to their plans for a [[Diablo 3 Beta]] future beta test, but did not absolutely confirm it until Blizzcon 2010. Though such a test is not yet confirmed, Blizzard has held one for every other game theyThey've released over not made any comments since then about what the past decadebeta might contain. Diablo II's beta was all five characters, but just Act One and therethe first three tiers of skills. It's no reason to think likely that the Diablo III beta would be follow a similar path, since the exception. Such a test would likely developers need to include only the opening portion of the enough game, enough to get testers playing keep players interested and testing to test out different hardware configurations for Blizzard, as well as giving feedback on the difficulty curve, early going. They do not want to reveal all of the plot and late game controls, instructional menuscontent though. Blizzard beta tests generally last 4-6 months, and many other early game aspects the developers want to Jay Wilson estimated that Diablo III would be sure they have perfectly designed to hook new players the first time they pick up a mousereleased about six months after its beta test begins. [[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]]
Blizzard beta tests generally last 4-6 months, depending on the complexity of the game. Starcraft 2's beta began in late February 2010, and ran almost until the game was released, on July 27th. * See the [[Diablo 3 Beta]] test page article for much more details, including how to get your spot in Diablo III'son this issue.
* Diablo III Announced at the WWI in Paris : 28th of June 2008
With this history in mind, many fans are were hoping for a June 2011 release. (A date that became impossible when the calendar moved into 2011 without any sign of the beta test.) It's not out of the question that the Diablo III beta might begin around late June, 2011.
==Diablo III Demo==
Blizzard has not said anything specifically about the upcoming demo of Diablo III, but when talking about StarCraft II, they said they had plans for a demo, and that they "use to do that after release". Most likely, we can expect a trial version of Diablo III ''after release''.
* See the [[Diablo III Demo]] article for more details about playable Diablo III demos.
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