Blizzard shunts Diablo III back until 'early 2012'

by Steven Mostyn - Sep 23 2011, 15:33

Blizzard is notoriously tightlipped when it comes to revealing concrete launch dates for its software, generally opting for the stock-standard “it’ll be ready when it’s ready” answer to any such media probing.

Therefore it’s fairly significant that today the acclaimed developer has said its eagerly awaited role-playing adventure Diablo III has been shunted from Q4 of 2011 into the early part of 2012 in order to extend the game’s beta testing phase.

Although far from being a definite calendar stamp, Blizzard said its decision to issue a small release delay is based around the company’s staunch belief that ‘almost ready’ is ‘not ready at all’.

“With every game we make, the temptation is always very strong to launch as soon as possible,” commented Blizzard chief executive Mike Mohaime in an official statement.

“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 our vision for the game and the expectations of our players,” he added.

The Diablo III beta platform has been running since September 20 and the extension should enable Blizzard to gather more user feedback and convert that into gameplay polish for the end user.

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