2012, The Year Of Diablo III
It saddens us at Diablofans to have to announce this, but bad news is best served fresh. The target release window for Diablo III has officially been pushed into 2012.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We commonly use the term “soon” when referring to Blizzard releases, because we know that no matter how hard we’re working to reach a target, we’re not going to compromise and launch a game before it’s ready. For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we’re announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012.
While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too. However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not. Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game.
The upside of today’s announcement is that we will be running the beta test longer than we initially planned, which will allow us to invite more of you who have opted in.
For those taking on the Diableard challenge, we salute you -- and now fear for your well-being and personal hygiene. We hereby issue an official reprieve to all Diableard participants, including Blizzard employees, if you want to trim or otherwise manage the lower half of your face. We’d still love to see your beardly achievements, and we look forward to seeing more of your efforts as we move into 2012, but not to the detriment of your workplaces and significant others.
Thank you everyone for your support and anticipation for Diablo III. We’re still moving ahead at full pace, and we’ll be keeping you fully informed of any news and developments here at Diablo3.com, including the specific release date when the time comes, so stay tuned.
-Mike Morhaime
UPDATE 2: A fellow Diablo follower from another site was able to capture the linked post in its entirety. With this as further evidence, it seems the Blue post itself was in fact legitimate. As it looks, the post was promptly taken down shortly after its publishing.
A special thanks to Soul for bringing the image to my attention.
UPDATE 3: The post is back up on the Official Site.
Perhaps this is just some kind of strategy to severely lower our hype and them POW RIGHT IN THE KISSER!! They announce in Nov that the game will be released in early Dec and then our hype quadruple in hype points then everybody in the world buys the game and blizz become rich an everybody live happily ever after...forever!
They make a lot more money off you from the WoW subs than from a box sale or two.
That's actually the definition of "winning", or at least it is to most global multibillion $ megacorps.
You know all sorts of negative things are going to be said now, but in all honesty, something Ive said before too, this games graphics already look a generation behind. Titan Quest, isnt far away from what Ive seen in HQ videos of D3.
I say if they are going to delay it, they need to work on the graphics polishing too.
Im right there with you.
Im just going to log off the site and not come back until january some time.
Im so sad, disappointed and down on this that I dont think I can give it any thought for a couple months.
Its officialy time to move on with Diablo 3. Battlefield 3 is my only, last resort. Please god, dont delay B3.
I are angry. And I also WTB that kirby flipping shit thingy. you know, the tables.
Me too, I'm done with this site and anything that reminds me of D3 for awhile. I did good for the last 4 years, but ever since last month man its been a daily, draining routine. PEACE OUT MOFOS
If you are, then you were never Diablo fans in the first place.
http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/max-schaefer-says-no-diablo-3-in-2011
Alright first off, up urs. Second off, yes I'm serious that doing this daily routine of checking this site, the Bnet site and hoping every hour for some more info is draining the piss out of me. Why sit here and count every day for another 6 months, when I can try to forget about it for a little, focus on other things and it will be here faster, in my mind.
Edit : for language because i'm the mad
Not only do they never meet projected deadlines, but there was never a release date set, so nothing was 'pushed back'. They were aiming for 2011, and I really don't think there is anything surprising about them not making it. There still seem to be core systems of the game that are not done yet.
Yes, it sucks, but be just a tiny bit realistic (I know this is too much to ask).
Obviously people aren't sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting for our newest android game, but in reality it makes sense.
The day I get my hands on D3. I want to feel the same excitement, rage, etc. that I felt when I was a kid playing D2 when it first came out when I was in 7th grade. If Blizz needs to take a few more months to make sure I get that, go right ahead.
People talk about the girl/guy that ruined you towards others, just because they were so great, attractive, etc. Diablo 2 did that to me, and I've been trying to find a game that can fill that void again. MoBa style games have come close, but they aren't as versatile. I hope the moment I load D3 for the first time, I get those same old feelings that D2 brought, and more.
TL:DR Blue balls.
Maybe now they can properly fix the skills...they can even add low level items sets now, i mean...why not, there will be an AH.
I'm just glad to know the general release time frame.
besides, I preordered skyrim...now i can actually play the damn thing.