Diablo III Coming in "The Next Few Years"

[Greg Tito]

Diablo III Coming in "The Next Few Years"

The action RPG title won't come in 2010 and could drop as late as 2014, depending on your definition of "few."

During a presentation in New York from Activision Blizzard's chief financial officer, Thomas Tippl, it was revealed that Diablo III will not be released in 2010. In a slide entitled "Blizzard Lineup Drives Growth" there are three columns with the labels "2009," "2010" and "Next Few Years." StarCraft II and Cataclysm made the 2010 column, but firmly in the catch-all last column is the much-anticipated Diablo III.

Blizzard is notorious for never prematurely announcing release dates, preferring to state that a game is done when it is done. And it appears the company has enough on its hands in 2010 with releasing SC2 and an expansion to the world's biggest MMO. When the beta for SC2 was put off until 2010, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/no-starcraft-ii-beta-until-next-year] part of me knew that many of Blizzard's other projects would be effected.

It is sad news, though, for Diablo fans who were hoping beyond hope that their game would come before the holiday season next year. Sorry, guys, you have to wait at least until early 2011, and possibly even later. "Next Few Years" is quite a nebulous timeframe and Blizzard's slate certainly looks full what with that big looming "Unannounced MMO" on the horizon.

Unfortunately, I could certainly see Diablo III being pushed back even farther to 2012 or even 2013. You can begin the hari-kiri [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku] now.

Source and image: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5403098/starcraft-ii-expansions-diablo-iii-coming-in-next-few-years]



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[-Drifter-]

Somehow I think people will have lost interest by then. Yeah, it's Diablo, but this game is taking as long as Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[thiosk]

Well, I hear that other loot clickfest game Torchlight really is a wonderful take on the diablo system. And by 'take on,' i mean its diablo with a dog you can send back to the town to cash in your goodies for you.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Great. I have been wanting to reinstall and start playing Diablo II lately, but figured that I should probably wait for 3 instead of investing my time in building a character for a game that will soon be "obsolete". However, upon hearing this news, perhaps replaying Diablo II won't be such a waste of time after all.

Sad news for people who are anxiously awaiting Diablo III though.

 

[Woodsey]

Yeah, it's Diablo, but this game is taking as long as Duke Nukem Forever.

How'd you work that out?

 

[Baby Tea]

And it's going to be the same as II, I bet.

I'm not too sure about that.
Diablo 2 was vastly different and improved from Diablo 1.
Major changes there.

We'll just have to see, I suppose.

As for the delay, this just gives me more time to actually get a gaming rig! Hooray!

 

[SovietSecrets]

Well thats depressing news. Hope Starcraft can keep my attention until it comes out.

 

[KSarty]

Why do companies announce these titles so long before it will be finished? You'd think even from an advertisement perspective it can only hurt you in the long run. After seeing hints and reveals for 3 years, when the game is finally ready to launch most people won't even bother clicking on the news link any more.

 

[Sub_par]

while this is unfortunate to hear as long as i have star craft 2 I think Ill be fine. if that gets delayed any further, however, we may have another Korean war on our hands!

my guess on y they announce so far in advance is because people wont leave them alone about when it will be out, they just put a number out there to shut people up. and stock holders probably want to know about when their investment will start paying off.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Well that sucks. I was hopeing that Diablo 3 was in that category of a nebulous "coming soon" that means within a tear but it appears that it has returned to the category of "we're making it" which means about 3 years. Sigh... One less game to look forward to for now.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Well, Blizzard says they will release one game a year. This years game was supposed to be SC2, next year is WoW:Cataclysm, so 2011 will be... Diablo 3, maybe. If not that then I don't know what else it could be. Maybe Blizzards new IP MMO. But 2012 should be the next WoW expansion, 'cause they do one every two years. So either 2011 or 2013.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I think Blizz are actually doing the right thing.

Instead of dropping teasers saying 'Coming Q1 2010', they're saying 'maybe sometime before 2020.'

If it then shows up xmas 2010, they'll have a legion of pleasantly surprised people queueing up to throw money at them, instead of a horde of people annoyed that it's been delayed...again.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

Eh, Diablo III will play just like Diablo II, given Blizzards typical game design philosophy. If it isn't broke, why change it, and given sales of Diablo II, clearly people will happily click their mouse millions of times.

 

[Paget]

I'm not oging to state the problems with this nor my disdain for blizzards prioritys.

All I'm going to say is what we're all thinking.

"Gaaaaaaaayyyyyy"

 

[Slycne]

Well no real surprise there, while I would certainly like to see it sooner at the end of the day I prefer the release it when it's done mentality to game development. I'd rather play a better game a year later then a crappy game a year sooner.

 

[Ranooth]

Torchlight 2 anyone?