The image to the right "leaked" via a Chinese MMORPG site in late 2010. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-release-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 was listed for the fourth quarter 2011, a fact that gave many fans a huge burst of excitement. Despite the fact that Blizzard has time , and again proved then eventual dismay when that they never hit their own estimated release datesdate was postponed.

The leak Blizzard never explicitly confirmed that this was met with scepticism an official document, but initially they didn't deny it was considered that either and the chart's estimates for Starcraft II dates and WoW:Cat had proved accurate. However that's not saying too muchproducts listed all checked out over time, since both titles though there were in or nearly into beta testing by April 2010 delays (assuming the chart is legit), and SC2 was already out and WoW:Cataclysm was imminent in September 2010 (assuming the chart was a fabrication at that timeof course). The authenticity of the date for Diablo 3 was substantiated when in February 2011 [[Rob Pardo]] was asked if it would be released that year he replied commented on their hopes to release Diablo 3 in 2011 in a February 2011 interview <ref name=robkotaku>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/?p=1787 Rob Pardo on Release Date] - Kotaku interview, 12/2/11</ref> :

With confirmation of those dates ===Diablo 3 Expansions=== The developers had often referred to Diablo 3 "expansions" and had said that they thought Diablo 2 could easily have been expanded on further, so it's reasonable was no surprise to accept see two expansions listed. The release date windows for those, 18 and 36 months after the product slate image initial game, seemed unlikely to be met, and as legitimate and therefore the release schedule of the February 2013, 9 months after Diablo 3 expansion packs's release, no official announcement of [[D3X]] has been made. But the slippage of Most fans expect it to be announced at Blizzcon 2013, which would be roughly 19 months after Diablo 3's release, with a release date (to "early 2012) and Blizzardof mid-2014 at the soonest, which would be 24-26+ months after D3's history release. For the sake of missing planned comparison, Starcraft 2's two expansions were also slated for 18 and 36 months after release dates should both be factored into and that timeframe proved wildly optimistic. Starcraft 2 was released on July 27, 2010, and the chartfirst expansion pack is set for release on March 12, 2013. That's 31.5 months; a similar length of time would bring forth Diablo 3's first expansion in January 2015. 

Estimates of a percentage completed are discouraged by During Diablo 3's development fans constantly clamored for progress reports. Blizzard development teamsoffered them regularly, since there's no way to quantify the process in that fashionbut without any publicly-released dates or percentages. They spent years working on the foundation of Diablo 3: programming the Even more than most game enginedevelopers, trying out numerous different styles Blizzard hates to give any sort of art designpercent completion, coming up with a plot since they so often iterate and reiterate (and character conceptsde-iterate, etc. The hardware some fans complain) and foundational work takes as long or longer than adding in the content, which this makes it impossible progress hard to estimate the overall percentage completedquantify with development, testing, and polishing all going on simultaneously.

[[Bashiok ]] emphasized this iterative, non-linear design style in a forum post in November 2009. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-act-3-and/ Iterative Design Philosophy] - Bashiok, 24/11/09</ref>

Any No official announcements concerning the release of Diablo 3 have date was ever offered until the latter half of 2011 been as specific as to final May 15th date, which year it would or would not be releasedwas announced on March 15, 2012.All prior estimates were purely release windows and estimates, which are collected below:

The Diablo 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 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 in mid -September 2011 and contains contained the same content as the Friends and Family testers were testing.

Blizzard beta tests generally last 4-6 months, and Jay Wilson estimated that Diablo 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> This did not happen and the Diablo 3 beta was extended several times as the release date was backed up from late 2011 to Q1 2012 and then finally Q2 2012.

Hence Starcraft 2 and WoW:Cat Cataclysm did not get release dates until 2-3 about two months beforehand, when those titles were well into their beta testsand the developer was certain they could make that date. This makes Fans hoped the start same would be true of the Diablo 3 , but as it turned out the game was not ready and thus the beta a more useful measure of the release date test ran for months longer than any actual release date announcement, and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated 's rough estimate that Diablo 3 will the game would be released "about six months " after the beta test beginsbegan.

::<blue><font color="#FFFFFF">Geoffkeighley (via Twitter): someone has to ask this: When is the Diablo 3 beta gonna be? </font>::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.</blue>

* ''Starcraft'': Announced spring 1996, released April 1998. (2 years later.)* ''Diablo 2'': Announced Sept 1997, released June 2000. (2 years, 9 months later.)* ''Warcraft 3'': Announced Sept 1999, released July 2002. (2 years, 10 months later.)* ''World of Warcraft'': September 2001, released Nov 2004. (3 years, 1 month later.)

Diablo 3 was announced June 28The developer is aware of this ever-lengthening cycle and they seem keen to correct it, 2008and have made various comments about not announcing any upcoming projects (such as [[Titan]]) until the games are much closer to finished.

With this history in mind, many fans were hoping for a June 2011 release, though in retrospect this was clearly never in the cards with Blizzard long-aiming for Q4 2011. (A date that became impossible when the calendar moved into 2011 without any sign of Before slipping nearly to June 2012 and inadvertently continuing the beta testJune trend.) 

If you're Thousands of fans took a guess at the betting type, there's a well-advanced release date prediction pool in an [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?700147-Somewhat-Official-Diablo-3-Release-Date-Pool you can join unofficial release date prediction pool] on Diablo IncGamers. The thread was started up when Diablo 3 was announced in here]June 2008, and became amusing and painful to view over the years, as hundreds of estimates went weeks, months, and then years by the wayside.