Blizzard Cheekily Delays Diablo 3 to 2012

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Blizzard Cheekily Delays Diablo 3 to 2012



Despite the recent beta opening up, no one should really be surprised when Blizzard delays a game.

As they have made abundantly clear in nearly every communication the company has made, Blizzard releases games on their schedule and no one else's. The PC juggernaut was already immune to publisher pressures to release on time because the company had yet to produce a sub-par game, but now that Blizzard is the publisher, there's no question that one of their games will come out "when it's ready" and not before. At least Blizzard has a sense of humor about it, as their press release announcing the delay begins with "Despite a sterling record of always hitting its release targets..." Yeah, not exactly.

"With every game we make, the temptation is always very strong to launch as soon as possible. However, we didn't put so many years of work into Diablo III to release a game that was almost ready," said Mike Morhaime, head of Blizzard.

The beta for Diablo III [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113190-Diablo-III-Beta-Now-Live] just opened up beyond the "friends & family" phase on September 20, and Blizzard wants to extend the window of testing before going gold. "The beta test is going very well, and we look forward to making the most of the extra time we're taking to deliver an experience that lives up to our vision for the game and the expectations of our players," Morhaime said.

The extended test will give time to invite a larger number of players to the beta, so if you haven't opted in already, you might want to schlep over to your Battle.net account page to do so now.

With Diablo III entering the 2012 calendar year, the next phase of StarCraft II slated around July, and a possible WoW expansion dropping by the holidays, next year is going to be pretty huge for Blizzard. When was the last time they had three major releases in the same year?

"Next year is going to be an incredibly busy one for Blizzard, and we hope an incredibly fun one for Blizzard gamers," said Morhaime.

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XT inc

Senior Member
Jul 29, 2009
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I just don't understand blizzard with the revenues they rob of people for playing wow they take in more than enough profits to pay for Elbow grease made of ,diamonds and platinum, to squeek a full game like this out years ago.

Kinda pitiful really.
 

PingoBlack

Searching for common sense ...
Aug 6, 2011
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XT inc said:
I just don't understand blizzard with the revenues they rob of people for playing wow they take in more than enough profits to pay for Elbow grease made of ,diamonds and platinum, to squeek a full game like this out years ago.
The other way around, IMO.

The very reason they make those billions is the fact they always release When It's Ready (TM).
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
Legacy
Oct 29, 2010
18,157
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Honestly I would of have been very suprise if they had release the game this year (Christmas time). So I guess bring on 2012 then (my mate will be annoy when he hear about this).
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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Sep 4, 2009
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ZippyDSMlee said:
They need to work on the PC port I see...
Zing!

With the controller announcement they showed their hand that this game was designed from the ground up for consoles.

And anyway there is no offline single player, no lan multiplayer. It isn't really diablo, it is more like blizzard's take on guild wars. Just remember kids, if you don't connect to their server you can't get their "important marketing messages".

D3 no, Torchlight 2 yes.
 

James Milamber

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Mar 18, 2011
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We've waited this long - a few more months won't make much difference, I guess. Besides, Starcraft 2 proved worth the wait (IMHO).
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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So it was announced in 2008...it's been in production since at least 2003, and now it's going to be released in 2012.

...I get the feeling that the actual game was "done" a long time ago, and it was delayed for the same reasons as Starcraft 2's delay: integration into their Always-Online DRM system (better known as Battlenet 2.0).
 

Daemonate

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Jun 7, 2010
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rembrandtqeinstein said:
ZippyDSMlee said:
They need to work on the PC port I see...
Zing!

With the controller announcement they showed their hand that this game was designed from the ground up for consoles.

And anyway there is no offline single player, no lan multiplayer. It isn't really diablo, it is more like blizzard's take on guild wars. Just remember kids, if you don't connect to their server you can't get their "important marketing messages".

D3 no, Torchlight 2 yes.
Exactly my feelings. It doesn't include ANY of the things which I enjoyed about Diablo II, including but not limited to:

- One-off payment cost (real money auction houses mean you will need to spend a WoW subscription of cost if you're serious about the game)
- Custom skill points with immense replayability (no skill points in D3)
- custom stat points so every character can be unique (no stat points in D3)
- offline, no connection required single player (and no net lag trying to navigate menus cough*starcraft2*cough)
- custom LAN and TCP/IP games
- fully modability (ive been playing it again with friends heaps this year in the form of the Median XL mod, and I have used PlugY non-stop for several years)
- Creepy, dark themes
- Matt Uhelman's amazing sound work
...
You know what? This game has nothing to DO with Diablo except it's title. Blizzard isn't the same company and this isn't the same franchise. It should have a new name.
 

Grey_Focks

New member
Jan 12, 2010
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rembrandtqeinstein said:
With the controller announcement they showed their hand that this game was designed from the ground up for consoles.

And anyway there is no offline single player, no lan multiplayer. It isn't really diablo, it is more like blizzard's take on guild wars. Just remember kids, if you don't connect to their server you can't get their "important marketing messages".

D3 no, Torchlight 2 yes.
Huh, I just don't get the hate over that controller comment. Just seems like you're making one hell of a logic leap there.

Other than that, hey, I actually agree. Okay, I actually don't care about the no offline single player or lan, since I always played online regardless, and the auction house really doesn't even bother me that much....but they way they've changed the skill and stat system killed it for me. They've pretty much made it so now every single character of a given class is going to be identical, with the only "character building" options now being what items you have equipped and runes.

The sad part is I'm still gonna play it. Dunno how long I'll stick with it, but I'm still giving it a chance, been a fan of the series too long not to. Looking forward to Torchlight 2 though.
 

ZippyDSMlee

New member
Sep 1, 2007
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rembrandtqeinstein said:
ZippyDSMlee said:
They need to work on the PC port I see...
Zing!

With the controller announcement they showed their hand that this game was designed from the ground up for consoles.

And anyway there is no offline single player, no lan multiplayer. It isn't really diablo, it is more like blizzard's take on guild wars. Just remember kids, if you don't connect to their server you can't get their "important marketing messages".

D3 no, Torchlight 2 yes.
Well all in all Daiblo kinda works well with a controller, at least outside of a menu.
The trouble I have with it all is I am old and jaded LOL
 

Bradeck

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Sep 5, 2011
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Speaking of "When it's Ready", has anyone heard a concrete release date for TL2? I heard it came out July 2011. It must have been amazing.
 

No_Remainders

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Sep 11, 2009
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Bradeck said:
Speaking of "When it's Ready", has anyone heard a concrete release date for TL2? I heard it came out July 2011. It must have been amazing.
They never said that...

In June they said "some time in 2011", I do believe.

OT: Yeah... This isn't surprising, all things considered.

Look at it this way, the next part of SC2 was meant to be out already, because they said it'd be approximately a year after the release of Wings of Liberty, but it's not going to be until next July or so, and I wouldn't bet against that being moved to a later date.
 

Bradeck

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Sep 5, 2011
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No_Remainders said:
Bradeck said:
Speaking of "When it's Ready", has anyone heard a concrete release date for TL2? I heard it came out July 2011. It must have been amazing.
They never said that...

In June they said "some time in 2011", I do believe.

OT: Yeah... This isn't surprising, all things considered.

Look at it this way, the next part of SC2 was meant to be out already, because they said it'd be approximately a year after the release of Wings of Liberty, but it's not going to be until next July or so, and I wouldn't bet against that being moved to a later date.


http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/10/torchlight-2-drops-to-july-console-ports-of-original-caused-delay/

*Drops mic and walks off*
 

PingoBlack

Searching for common sense ...
Aug 6, 2011
322
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rembrandtqeinstein said:
With the controller announcement they showed their hand that this game was designed from the ground up for consoles.
Bullshit, I'm sorry to have to say it.

If you had access to Beta test you would probably know controllers are not supported at all. But don't mind me, I'm more and more certain you actually work for Torchlight 2 PR team ...

At least your catchphrase makes it seem so.

Bradeck said:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/10/torchlight-2-drops-to-july-console-ports-of-original-caused-delay/

*Drops mic and walks off*
Oh ... You just ruined the PR!