Diablo 3 Release Date Pushed Back

PC gaming enthusiasts everywhere can release a collective groan over the latest news from Blizzard Entertainment. Early on September 23rd, President of Blizzard Mike Morhaime released a statement saying that the Diablo 3 release date is now officially pushed into 2012. Right now, the official word is “early” 2012. So expect the game sometime from January to March 2012. 

If You Already Made Plans

For those of you who have already booked time off from work to get in some sweet, sweet demon killing action, you might want to figure out how to un-book it. With Diablo 3’s current state, it’s doubtful Blizzard will push the date back much further again, if at all. So, if you want, you can still make some tentative plans to get away from your work grind to join in on the D3 grind.

In the statement, Morhaime maintains that this was a collective decision on the part of everyone involved in creating D3. This jives with Blizzard’s reputation for putting out the most polished product possible. But might there be more to it than that?

Why Did They Do It?

Blizzard has been a part of Activision for some time now. Activision publishes other incredibly popular games like the Call of Duty series. Perhaps some of the bigshots over at the Activision side of the company have voiced concerns regarding the sales impact that a blockbuster like Diablo 3 may have on their other game series. It could all just be executive meddling in the affairs of gamers.

Of course, the truth often lies somewhere in the middle. It’s likely some of the folks at Blizzard thought Diablo 3 needed more tweaking and polishing, while other parts of the company wanted a shot at some money. If this is the case, it’s a win-win-lose situation. It’s a win for both Blizzard and Activision, and a loss for people who wanted Diablo 3 in their hands for Christmas.

What This Means to You

Morhaime also stated that this new means that D3 will have a longer than anticipated beta test. If you haven’t opted into this test with your Blizzard account yet, do so. You may actually stand a chance of getting in now.

This statement has implications for games outside of Blizzard as well. The Torchlight 2 developers have now been granted at least a small amount of breathing room before the behemoth that is D3 descends on them.

So, Diablo is still on his way to Sanctuary for a third instalment of Chaos. He’s just going to be a little late.