There is no Diablo III 3 release date, and Blizzard has never given one. Not even a tentative one. Not even an estimate at one. When asked about a release date, Blizzard employees give the same reply for all their games.

<u>"When it's done."</u> The current official line concerning a release date is '''"early 2012"''' and that's as specific as it gets.

==Beta Test TimelineBlizzard's Leaked Product Schedule==

After years of offering [[File:Bliz-schedule-rumor1.jpg|thumb|450px|Diablo 3 projection: Fourth Quarter 2011?]]The image to the right "leaked" via a Chinese MMORPG site in late 2010. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-release date estimates -dates-leaked/ Leaked Release Schedule] - MMOGamesite.Com, 2/12/10</ref>. It's alleged to be an internal Blizzard document from April 2010, listing estimated dates for their upcoming product releases. Diablo 3 is listed for various gamesthe fourth quarter 2011, most a fact that gave many fans a huge burst of which they missed, excitement. Despite the fact that Blizzard has grown quite conservative about offering release dates. They now give only vague release date windows, time and again proved that they never any specific hit their own estimated release dates or targets unless they are very sure they can meet them.

Hence The leak was met with scepticism but initially it was considered that the chart's estimates for Starcraft 2 II and WoW:Cat did had proved accurate. However that's not get release dates until 2-3 months beforehandsaying too much, when those since both titles were well in or nearly into their beta tests. This makes testing by April 2010 (assuming the start of the Diablo III beta a more useful measure of the release date than any actual release date announcementchart is legit), and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated that Diablo III will be released about six months after the beta test begins.[httpSC2 was already out and WoW://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]::Geoffkeighley Cataclysm was imminent in September 2010 (via Twitter): someone has to ask this: When is assuming the Diablo 3 beta gonna be? ::Jay Wilson: Probably about six months before we release. Note chart was a fabrication at that this is far from an exact timeline, and much more of a spur-of-the-moment estimatetime).

In May 2011 Blizzard confirmed that The authenticity of the date for Diablo III beta should begin 3 was substantiated when in the "third quarter" of February 2011. This means July 1 - September 30. That's a wide target, but the range [[Rob Pardo]] was narrowed down a bit in mid-June, 2011, when asked if it was revealed that a major system would be announced released that year he replied <ref name=robkotaku>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/?p=1787 Rob Pardo on August Release Date] - Kotaku interview, 12/2, 2011. Since we were previously told that the beta would not begin until after all the systems were revealed, this puts an early-August 2011 date for the earliest possible start of the Diablo III Beta./11</ref> :

Later, in June 2011, COO [[File:Bliz-schedule-rumor1.jpg|thumb|450px|Diablo III projection: Fourth Quarter 2011?Paul Sams]]The image to the right "leaked" via a Chinese MMORPG site in late 2010.was quoted as saying <ref name=paulinsidekorea>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog?p=2079 Paul Sams on Release Date] - Inside Korea , 18/comments6/blizzard-release-dates-leaked11</] It's alleged to be an internal Blizzard document from April 2010, listing estimated dates for their upcoming product releases. Diablo III is listed for the fourth quarter 2011, a fact that gave lots of Diablo fans a huge burst of excitement. Despite the fact that Blizzard has time and time again proved that they never hit their own estimated release dates.ref> :

Even if the chart is authentic<blue>With Diablo 3 targeted at being launched this year, we plan on testing the estimate of Fourth Quarter 2011 for Diablo III doesn't necessarily mean anything. Blizzard has along history of missing their projected release dates, which is why they no longer state them publicly. Even if game in the chart is real, and they were projecting December 2011 as of April 2010, that's no guarantee that Diablo III will be released at that timethird quarter. In fact, given Blizzard's past flirtations with advance release dates, that's a pretty good guarantee Diablo III will <u>not</ublue> be ready by then.

ThatWith confirmation of those dates it's reasonable to accept the big questionproduct slate image as legitimate and therefore the release schedule of the Diablo 3 expansion packs. One that will probably never But the slippage of Diablo 3's release date (to "early 2012) and Blizzard's history of missing planned release dates should both be answered publicly. Blizzard did not comment on it directly, and rumors about firings in their Chinese offices were just that; rumors.[http://diablo.incgamersfactored into the chart.com/blog/comments/more-blizzard-china-info-leak-intrigue/]

The chart got one excellent piece Estimates of supporting evidence a percentage completed are discouraged by Blizzard development teams, since there's no way to quantify the process in November 2010, when Blizzard confirmed that Titan was fashion. They spent years working on the codename for their unannounced but well-known secret next-gen MMORPG. [httpfoundation of Diablo 3://diabloprogramming the game engine, trying out numerous different styles of art design, coming up with a plot and character concepts, etc.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-confirms-titan-The hardware and foundational work takes as-code-name-for-their-next-gen-mmo/] The project had long since been known aboutor longer than adding in the content, but the code name "Titan" was brand new news when which makes it impossible to estimate the chart was releasedoverall percentage completed.

Another piece of evidence appeared Bashiok emphasized this iterative, non-linear design style in a forum post in February 2011, when Japanese and Brazilian localizations were added to Blizzard's upcoming WoW patchNovember 2009.<ref>[http://wwwdiablo.mmo-championincgamers.com/contentblog/2186comments/bashiok-WoWon-Brazilact-Blizzard3-Slate-Blue-Posts-MMO-Report-Comicsand/ Iterative Design Philosophy] "WoW Brazil" is listed on the chart for mid-2011Bashiok, so they seem to be right on schedule for that.24/11/09</ref>

One constant with every Blizzard game is a long development cycle, a lot of eager fans, and a substantial minority of fans who are very impatient. The most hardcore fans tend not to be so impatient, since they're following the game's development very closely, and can see the progress as it moves along.. The most impatient ones tend to be more casual fans, who want the game, but who only hear news about it every now and then, via general gaming news sites. They tend isn’t being developed in a linear fashion so us saying we’re working on things in Act III doesn’t really mean anything in regards to also see fake release dates, usually via online retailers, which they believe, not knowing any better. And then when how much of the game isn't ready by those dates, they blame not themselves for being gullible, or the retailer for lying, but the game developers for being slowis finished.

Examples of this kind of fan can be seen in comments about any Since we’re constantly evolving the tools and processes for creating the various assets for the game on general gaming site(and just plain getting better at it), or in the replies it’s best to have as wide a perspective as possible. Otherwise we’d probably paint ourselves into a corner. All of the work being produced at the end of the game's social media outletswould look far and above better than the stuff that was produced at the beginning, where not very knowledgeable fans tend and so we’d probably have to show upgo back and redo a lot of that work.</blue>

A good example of this came Almost since the game was announced in a post on leading fansite Diii.netJune 2008, when the developers have said that they quoted a bunch of fan comments on Blizzard's Diablo Facebook pagewere well into content production. A few samples from that news item:<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/nodiablo-releaseiii-dateheavily-forinto-somedevelopment/ Diablo 3 in heavy development] -timeMike Morhaime, Blizzard, 4/]8/08</ref> (Meaning that the engine and basic game functions were all locked down and working properly.) Content though, especially in Blizzard titles, is such a huge area of work that experienced Blizzard-watchers expected the content production and balancing would take years. And it has.

Blizzard's company PR policy never to link out to fansites or wikis does a lot to feed this sort of behavior, since their official game sites, especially pre-release, have decent game info, but virtually zero game news. If you look around the ==Diablo 3: Release Date Through The Years==[[httpFile://www.diablo3.com official Diablo III site] you'll find lots of pretty pictures and very polished looking game features, but no links to regular news sources, no links to developer interviews, nothing about development progress, or timelines, or a release Release-date, or a beta test, etc-bliz1. Naturally the fans who rely only on Blizzard's own sites, and general gaming sites, are going to expect the game to be done soon, since all they see looks nearly release-ready, and they're not told otherwise by anyone jpg|thumb|250px|D3 in authority."Next Few Years"]]

==D3: In * '''November 2009''' - The broadest came in the Next Few Years==[[File:Release-date-bliz1.jpg|thumb|250px|D3 Activision/Blizzard quarterly shareholders conference call in "November 2009 where a Powerpoint presentation slide (right image) pinned it down to 'Next Few Years" ' <ref> [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-willdue-notin-benext-releasedfew-in-2010years/ as of late 2009].]]No one at Blizzard has ever yet given any hint of a release date, or schedule, or estimate, or anything of the kind for Diablo 3, other than to say it would not be out in 2010[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/rob-pardon-on-d3s-first releaseschedule] -date/]Activision quarterly results call, and that as of late 2009 it was in their pipeline for the "next few years."[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog5/comments11/diablo-3-will-not-be-released-in-201009</]ref>

Their only other public comments on the * '''November 2009''' - Rob Pardo in an interview with Techland. "whenI think it's safe to say that, yeah, (Diablo 3) is not going to be out next year." question are terse official statements<ref> [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/rob-pardon-on-d3s-release-date Rob Pardo on release] - [http://techland.com/2009/11/19/blizzard-respondswho-knows-towhen-diablo-3-releaseiii-datewill-rumourship/Techland] that Diablo 3 does not have a release date, whenever a new rumor pops up and gains enough traction that they feel it's necessary to restate the obvious. 19/11/09</ref>

As * '''February 2011''' - Rob Pardo in an interview with Kotaku when asked if Diablo 3 would be released that year said "We really, really hope so. That’s our goal,” “Our goal is to get there. But you know, at the end of July 2010the day, fansite Diiiwe are going to get it right.net had tagged That’s more than twenty-five news items with [http://diabloimportant.incgamersWe’re going to promise, we’re going to get it out there when it’s awesome.com/categories/category/release-date/ the "release date rumor" keyword]And, we’re crossing our fingers, showing just how often maybe it will be this sort of thing pops upyear. " <ref name=robkotaku/>

==Estimated Progress?==Estimates of a percentage completed are discouraged by * '''September 2011''' - A technical glitch on Blizzard development teams, since there's no way website gave the community a premature look at a statement planned to quantify the process in be published at a later time from Blizzard President [[Mike Morhaime]] announcing that fashion. They spent years working on the foundation of Diablo III3 would not be released in 2011 <ref>[http: programming the game engine//diablo.incgamers.com/?p=7029 2011 Release will not happen] Mike Morhaime, trying out numerous different styles of art design, coming up with a plot and character conceptsBlizzard, etc23/9/11</ref>. The hardware and foundational work takes as long or longer than adding in the content, which makes it impossible to estimate the overall percentage completed.title offered a tentative new date:

<blue>We have weekly playtests "“Soon” Was Too Soon — Diablo III to focus feedback on areas and featuresArrive in Early 2012. Last week </blue> After quickly taking the statement down Blizzard put it back online later that day, probably realising it was an Act III dungeonfutile to shut the barn doors once the horse had bolted.<br> 

<blue>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.The game isn’t being developed in Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a linear fashion so us saying we’re working on things in Act III doesn’t really mean anything in regards little more time and add further polish to how much a few different elements of the game is finished.</blue>

==The Diablo III 3 Team regularly referred to a future beta test, but did not absolutely confirm it until Blizzcon 2010 <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-beta-confirmed Beta Test==Confirmed] - Christian Lichtner, Blizzard, VG247 Interview, 28/10/10</ref>. The Diablo 3 Beta test began in early September, 2011, and was initially limited to "Friends & Family" testing. The closed beta began mid September and contains the same content as the Friends and Family testers were testing.

The D3 Team regularly refered to a future Diablo 3 beta test, but did not absolutely confirm it until Blizzcon 2010. They've not made any comments since then about what consists of the beta might contain. Diablo II's beta was all five characters, but just first half of Act One , with some story elements and the first three tiers of skillsgame features removed. It's likely that the Diablo III The beta would follow test is largely a similar pathtech demo, since the developers need to include enough with little game content open to keep players interested and to test out the early going. They do fan feedback; it is not want intended to reveal all of the plot and late be a full game content thoughbalance playtest, like many MMORPGs.

Blizzard beta tests generally last 4-6 months, and Jay Wilson estimated that Diablo III 3 would be released about six months after its beta test begins. [<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/Beta Duration]]- Jay Wilson, Blizzard, 30/10/10</ref>

One commonly-cited piece of "evidence" is release date prediction has been the fact that no Blizzard games have (yet) been released much more than three years after they were first announced.

Diablo III 3 was announced June 28, 2008.

* Diablo II release date: 29th of June 2000* Diablo II: Lord of Destruction release date: 29th I was released in November 1996, but all of June 2001* Diablo III Announced at the WWI games in Paris the series since then have shown an affinity for late June: 28th of June 2008

* Diablo 1 release date: 29th of June 2000* Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction release date: 29th of June 2001* Diablo 3 Announced at the WWI in Paris : 28th of June 2008 With this history in mind, many fans were hoping for a June 2011 release. (A date that became impossible when the calendar moved into 2011 without any sign of the beta test.) It's not out of the question that the Diablo III beta might begin around late June, 2011.

==Blizzard first confirmed a playable demo back in November 2011 <ref>[http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/10/1/40/819/135886/diablo-iii-demo Diablo III Expansion Packs==3 Demo] - Blizzard, 12/11/11</ref>

Blizzard has confirmed their intention to create multiple [[expansion pack]]s <blue>We're definitely looking into having a trial version available at some point, as we do for Diablo III. These are expected to be released about every 18 months, following in the pattern established by World of Warcraft and Starcraft StarCraft II.</blue>

==Related Information==You can read more about the In January 2012 they expanded on their plans <ref>[[system requirements]], [[Beta Test|http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/1/1/4/10/143413/will-we-know-when-they-stop-beta testing]-inviting Diablo 3 Demo]- Blizzard, price6/payment methods and age [[rating]] 1/12</ref> <blue>We'll probably make a trial edition at some point. It's sort of a demo I suppose, but it's a bit better because it's essentially the full game just with locks put on the certain areas. So you'd be able to jump into multiplayer games with your friends, but maybe you wouldn't be able to play beyond a certain place and wouldn't have access to all the game systems (certainly not auction houses) but if you choose to buy the game all that stuff just unlocks.</blue> * See the [[Diablo 3 BasicsDemo]]''' pagearticle for more details about playable Diablo 3 demos.  ==Diablo 3 Expansion Packs== Blizzard has confirmed their intention to create multiple [[expansion pack]]s for Diablo 3. These are expected to be released about every 18 months, following in the pattern established by World of Warcraft and Starcraft II.

Images related to the Diablo III 3 release date.

Past date information, now rendered obsolete by the passage of timebut it's hear for posterity.  '''Not 2010''' In Activision/Blizzard financial reports, two games are reported as being released this year: [[Starcraft II]] and [[World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]. [[Diablo 3]] was never part of Blizzard's release schedule for 2010. 

===Not 2010===In ActivisionThere were some rumors in 2008 <ref> [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/d3-release-date-rumors/ Release Date Rumours] - Battleforums, 14/9/08</ref> that Diablo 3 was further along in the development cycle than Starcraft 2. Blizzard financial reportsimmediately denied that, two games are reported as being they always said Starcraft 2 would be released this year: [[Starcraft II]] first, and [[World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]it was, on July 27, 2010. [[With Diablo III]] was never part of Blizzard3 still nowhere near beta testing at that point, that's release schedule for 2010as thorough a rumor debunking as you're ever going to see.

=References==Starcraft II First===There were some rumors in 2008[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/d3-release-date-rumors/] that Diablo 3 was further along in the development cycle than Starcraft 2. Blizzard immediately denied that, they always said Starcraft 2 would be released first, and it was, on July 27, 2010. With Diablo 3 still nowhere near beta testing at that point, that's as thorough a rumor debunking as you're ever going to see.