Italian Branch “Leaks” Diablo 3 Release Date

There have been a lot of posts and comments about this “leak,” so it would seem only fitting to give nod to it here. An Italian site, www.mmorpgitalia.it, has supposedly leaked the official release date of Diablo III, giving details of pricing for Europe. They didn’t mention when the actual release date announcement would occur, but if they actually do know a real date, that means the possibility of it being official on Monday rises dramatically (if not next week, then we can be fairly certain it will come the week after).

Whether you want to believe it or not, many places around the internet have met this date with less skepticism than we’ve seen regarding pretty much any other date. So… it may be true, and it may not be. But I don’t know about you guys, it just seems that release date rumors are coming thick and fast these days. There is no corroboration for the sources, and I can only give the date skepticism, as the chance of one site hearing such important news would seem to undermine everything Blizzard has said in the past. As we can all recall, we will know the release date of the game the same day that vendors do.

Here’s the google translation:

Activision has revealed Italy to several large retailers Italian release date, some yet to be confirmed at the world average by Blizzard but rather than trust, Diablo III. This would be the April 17, and prices are now set at € 54.90 for the standard edition and € 89.90 for the Collector.

Since the source is the Italian branch of the same publisher, I would say that after Easter to all the fans who are eagerly awaiting the release of the game will be more than positive. The rest of the dungeon crawler par excellence is almost ready for some time, and the latest statements have been conducted to art to increase even more hype.

UPDATE: An Italian poster also added the full, real translations – thanks Soulbringer

Activision Italy has revealed to Italy’s biggest retailers Diablo III release date, yet to be officially confirmed worldwide by Blizzard but solid enough to be trusted. It’ll be on 17 April and the prices are fixed at 54,90€ for the standard edition and 89,90€ for the CE.

I would add that, for what it’s worth, yesterday I went to Mediaworld here in Italy and for the first time I saw the preorder box for Diablo III that on the rear side had written: “For sale in April”.

The 17th is a Tuesday which would make sense for a global launch, all games in the US are released on a Tuesday and in Europe on a Friday, but when it’s a global launch the EU date gets moved to the Tuesday. A few weeks ago Dutch retailer Bart Smit started placing posters in their stores touting an April/May release date and it now looks like April is more likely. With Jay Tweeting  they are at a  ”9/10″ stage to announce release, perhaps we will hear something early next week.

As noted in the full translation, it is stated that Activision Italy told the date to vendors, so take that for what its worth.