A Message from Jay Wilson: Release Date In the Near Future

Posted 24 February 2012 by Nizaris

This just in… sign of a DiabloWikirelease date? We get sparingly few messages from DiabloWikiJay Wilson, and it makes me wonder what spurred this sudden message. We can also probably take from this that we will see another patch that makes some continued tweaks to the D3 beta. Whether it will truly transform the beta from something “good” to something “great” remains to be seen, but expect something in the future that precludes the release date.

Jay Wilson wanted to share a message with the Diablo III community:

Some of you might have seen some headlines or a certain (obviously sarcastic) blue post that implies that we’re unsteady about where Diablo III stands, and that you should temper your expectations when it comes to the next installment in the Diablo series.

Let me be clear: Nothing could be further from the truth.

As those of you in the beta have seen, the game is in good shape. Actually, I should say that the beta version of the game is in good shape. The latest full build we’ve been testing here in the office is in great shape.

We get a lot of sympathy from the other teams because of the long hours of crunch our design team is putting in, but the secret is that playing through the game as we do final tuning, bug fixes, and optimizations is a real joy. We always know a Blizzard game is almost ready when we have to ask members of the team to stop playing so they can get their work done. That’s definitely been the case around here.

We think you’re going to love Diablo III when it’s released, and speaking of release plans, you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future. See, I didn’t say “soon,” so I’m not taunting you. ;) You’ll know as soon as I know for sure the exact date.

And by the way, we want you to have high expectations for Diablo III and all Blizzard games. That’s what pushes us to try to make the best gaming experiences we possibly can. If Diablo III wasn’t a worthy next installment in the Diablo series, we wouldn’t release it. That’s the way we do it. That’s the way we’ve always done it.

As I’ve said many times in the recent past, we think Diablo III is coming along great and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. We’re doing all we can to ensure you have one hell of a time once you step foot in Sanctuary…

Also, I think Diablo is much more comparable to the Evil Dead series personally, and those just kept getting better. OK, I know a lot of you prefer Evil Dead 2 to Army of Darkness, but come on, Bruce Campbell fights a squad of little Bruce Campbells! Priceless. =)

Jay Wilson is the Game Director of Diablo 3, and wants to know “Hey, uh, what’s that you got on your face?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBCSautRXY

Truly, if there was anything that could be a bigger sign that says we’ll be receiving a date within a month (or few weeks), this would be such a statement. Here’s for hoping. Again.

Tagged As: | Categories: Blue Posts, Jay Wilson, Release Date
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105 Opinions have been expressed on “A Message from Jay Wilson: Release Date In the Near Future”
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  • comooon one time!

  • Good catch.  I didn’t even notice it on the forums.
     
    Hopefully “near future” for a release date announcement means within the next two weeks.

    • Last time they used the term “Near Future” we got the info in like 2 weeks. I’m fairly (if a bit cautiously) optimistic it’s going to be that soon as well.

      Man, I cannot wait! I think I’ll celebrate by doing a Diablo 1 run through and then another Diablo 2 run to freshen myself up on the story once the game is officialy dated for release. 

      • TBH you’d be better of reading the book of cain for a refresher, unless you want to relive the moments that probably won’t be in D3, like halls of the blind, or the release of tal rasha, etc.
        BoC, because they…well they didn’t change things per se, but expanded them greatly, making the previous two game’s narratives kind of “small” and non-inclusive. 

  • “Near Future” vs. “Soon”. Sooner than later we can expect a release date announcement? 

  • I know it means nothing but i can’t help being excited ! go go near future !

  • “…and speaking of release plans, you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future. See, I didn’t say “soon,” so I’m not taunting you. ;) You’ll know as soon as I know for sure the exact date.”
    Why even bring this up if you’re not going to give concrete info. Given the rabid twitch response this provokes in most of the people who can’t wait for the game… why even remind us of it. Just announce it when you have it instead of poking us with the “near future” and “soon” stick.
    I like to see confidence in a developer… certainly better then comparing your game to a sequel for “The Happening”. Here’s to hoping this is of substance and not marketing banter.

    • Look at most of comments here and you’ll have your answer. Each time they pull out this trick, some of the sheep calm down and get all excited, writing in all caps like OMG OMG SOON I AM EXCITE LOLOL MINE etc…It’s calculated damage control.

      • The effect is clear, but it doesn’t really serve as damage control as far as I can tell.
        The over excited sheep is already brimming to the teeth with glee at the game, so a new “soon” prod won’t really catch his attention. It might illicit an extra tweet or post but nothing substantial in terms of changing their disposition, since they had his attention all along.
        Meanwhile, the more cynical among us already know that this is complete garbage as long as no concrete info is given. But we are reminded of all the similar infuriating statements made previously.
        Not much in the way of damage control, if you ask me… IMO, it’s just the complementary PR banter. Nothing calculated, nothing aimed, just the customary cliche they use in order to illicit a response… there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
         

    • why ?
      what exactly did he say ?   
      “you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future” ?? 

      no kidding, if they’re targeting Q2 then of course we can expect an announcement in the near future.
      how is that news ? 

      • Because “in the near future” sounds in this case like “in the next two weeks” to me.. and as soon as we get the release date, we are probably two months away from getting the game which could mean late April/early May release. Much better than a release on June 30.

  • Good to hear that everything is progressing smoothly.

    I wonder what kind of hours the dev team would have had to pull if the game had a confirmed release date back in December?

    Still waiting on a beta key though. 

  • Sign of release

  • OH MY GAWD!! :D
     
    I just got banned from trolling on the Diablo 3 forums for a week!!
     
    That’s how bored I am of waiting…. lol

  • Hmm maybe I’ve underestimated Bashiok…has he been sarcastic all this time?

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