When Will Beta Begin?
If there's any one game developing company known for delays...Well, let's just take a look at the facts. The Diablo franchise, itself, is no spring chicken. There's the ten years we've been patiently awaiting Diablo III, and the seven years we had to wait for even the announcement during the final Worldwide Invitational (see Diablo III Announced). But how far back to delays go in Diablo's history?
Did you know that Diablo II was originally slated for a 1999 release date? According to a very archaic passage from the reputed ShackNews game news network, the second installment was delayed an entire year.
But the delays don't stop there. The Starcraft franchise has had its share of shortcomings, even establishing a hallmark among ghosted games. Starcraft: Ghost has been on what Blizzard calls an "indefinite hold" since 2006, with a game announcement reaching as far back as 2002. Guess the game was dead before it even hit shelves.
For a more modern gaming audience, the delays of Starcraft II might be a source for more sorrow. In 2009, GossipGamer reported that the game was being delayed due to Battle.net conflictions (and the game still launched with Battle.net problems.) Before even that delay, it was further put off track due to the taskforce needed to push out Wrath of the Lich King.
As for the much-loved Warcraft RTS franchise, which is often differentiated by fans as being entirely separate from World of Warcraft, Warcraft III was delayed by as much as a year, with a purported release set for 2001 and later delayed to 2002.
Major game releases haven't been the only victims. The hit-or-miss Diablo II Patch 1.10 (Diablo II) faced some sluggishness from it's announcement when it finally hit the scenes in 2003. Patch 1.13 (Diablo II), which we covered extensively from inception to implementation, suffered numerous delays due to patch work on Warcraft III and other unspecified reasons (see WCIII Patch is Up- Diablo II Patch 1.13 Soon to Follow?).
How should these details factor in to our beta date hopes, if at all? To be fair, several things should be taken into consideration with regards to the past. Diablo II was, of course, being developed under a much smaller team than the more modern one led by Jay Wilson. In addition to creating an entirely new game engine from the ground up for Diablo III, Blizzard has undergone several employment revamps since Blizzard North's time, making their last ten years nothing to scoff at.
Starcraft: Ghost was being developed entirely by third-party developers until Blizzard simply bought out the latest company, Swingin' Ape Studios, in 2004. Maybe there's something to be said for it not being directly developed by Blizzard Entertainment. And perhaps to Starcraft II's credit, the game was entirely finished and ready for release, but structural details with the latest rendition of the Battle.net system caused some unforeseen problems.
Years later, Blizzard now boasts dedicated development teams for each franchise, as well as a Battle.net team and a budget that would make most developers envious. With relatively little else going on for Blizzard development-wise, perhaps we can place more faith in "targeted" dates. Let's hear what you think!
Just a guess.
Diablo 3 IS delayed already. Like a trillion years!?
I still stand by my point from a previous thread - they wouldn't keep mentioning that their intention is to get it out this year, if they didn't have a plan to make that happen. Blizz isn't the type of company to lead on their investors, partners and fans - unless they think it is possible to release this year. I'm sure if they miss the 2011 window, we will know with plenty of time.
What about those games that were on the "To be released in 2011" slide? Why was Diablo III omitted if they had any trust it would be finished this year?
I am voting November beta, after Blizzcon, because Blizzard seems unsure of itself.
This is just speculation but during the conference call some guy asked about "other devices with a processor and a screen" and developing for these. For some reason the guy responding really elaborated on this (with out saying a whole lot though) but kept on mentioning how this was such a great question and how this was important for their business model and new developments. I was just curious about what everyone else thinks about this. Do you think this is a hint that they're going to be trying to release D3 on consoles? I know people were joking saying D3 for Facebook but I think more realistically (with Activision/Blizzard business model) they'd want to promote/develop better console sales.
Edit: I must say I do really enjoy your podcasts and I voted July
Since it was"processor and a screen", I think that rules out consoles for this particular mention. They are hiering on the D3 team for console devs, though. I think the quote is referring to mobile devices.