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→Beta Test Timeline
==Beta Test Timeline==
After years of offering release date estimates that were often for various games, most of which they missed, Blizzard has grown even more quite conservative about offering release dates. They now give only vague release date windows, and they no longer give never any hint until specific dates or targets unless they are positive that very sure they can hit meet them. Hence Starcraft 2 and WoW:Cat did not get release dates until 2-3 months beforehand, when those titles were well into their beta tests. This makes the start of the beta a more useful measure of the release date than any actual release date announcement, and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated that Diablo III will be released about six months after the beta test begins.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]
Hence Starcraft 2 and WoW:Cat did not get release dates until 2-3 months beforehand, when those titles were well into their beta tests. This makes the start of the Diablo III beta a more useful measure of the release date than any actual release date announcement, and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated that Diablo III will be released about six months after the beta test begins.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]
::Geoffkeighley (via Twitter): someone has to ask this: When is the Diablo 3 beta gonna be?
::Jay Wilson: Probably about six months before we release.
Note that this is far from an exact timeline, and much more of a spur-of-the-moment estimate.
In May 2011 Blizzard confirmed that the Diablo III beta should begin in the "third quarter" of 2011. This means July 1 - September 30. That's a wide target, but the range was narrowed down a bit in mid-June, 2011, when it was revealed that a major system would be announced on August 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.
==Blizzard's Leaked Product Schedule==