View Full Version : Release date guesses
mouseman
29-06-2008, 14:51
According to the FAQ, the game will be release when it's perfected. What do you think, when it is?
If we look at the game demo, the core of the game looks pretty working. I've seen worse games being released. It's hard to know if only the first parts of the game are done or have they concentrated on the engine, physics and so on. The other classes need substantial amount of work, too. Balancing and polishing and all that.
I'm still surprised that the game is so well on its way.
I'm thinking that something will happen at blizzcon. Maybe alpha, beta, or a release date. Or at least playable demo to some selected few who are on the site.
Christmas release may be pushing it, but they've been doing this game for a really long time already. I think they don't want to keep up the hype over a year, so I'm thinking summer 2009, maybe releasing on the Diablo Day, 29th June.
What do you think? Am I being too optimistic?
Summer 2009 might be pushing it, but I'm confident that it will land anywhere between late 2009 and mid 2010.
In an interview with the executive producer for D3 (I forget his name), he said they are pretty far along. All of their assets and engine is totally complete and they're pretty set with the art style. ActI is totally done, and all of the player classes are playable. So right now until the release date, they'll just be adding content, which, I guess, is the easier part.
Blizzard has had a pretty good track record for releasing games 1-2 years after announcement. At the least, the game will be released on June 29th of next year. If it isn't released then, Blizz will probably put out a demo of some sort on that date. Late 09' is my guess.
raveharu
29-06-2008, 15:53
I think once they release all the classes and the official REAL trailer then the game should be out.
Starcraft 2 was announced more than a year ago and so far there isn't even a BETA scheduled. :)
2010
Omikron8
29-06-2008, 18:01
optimist: late 2009
realist: 2010
casserole
29-06-2008, 18:29
November 24, 2009
in the interview...the guy says that they typically announce a game usually 1 year to 1 and a half years before its release. so SC2 is not out yet, my guess is december of this year for SC2. leaving diablo at least 2 years from todays date
summer 2010
In the same interview, after saying that they usually announce when they think it's 1-1.5 years away from release, Pardo joked that "3 years later..."
Which is not really a joke, unfortunately. Blizzard averages 2-3 years after announcement for a major title. Considering the title has already been in development for 4 years... yes, this is a long time.
ExtraStrongFireEnchanted
29-06-2008, 20:26
Frankly although I'd love to play D3 ASAP, I am definetly enjoying getting used to it by reading official site. The works of Abd al-Hazid or whatever he is called, are brilliant, and I am positive Blizzard is going to put all kinds of eastern eggs, sekrits, clues etc. in it. Sooner or later we'll be getting talent trees, more info on character progresion, game mechanics, specific items sneak peaks. So basically I am cool, for once I support "it's done when it's done" philosophy, hey I am not getting any younger, and with age comes wisdom lol.
It's hard to say, they seem to be further along than I expected to see with the announcement. Even so, I'd say Summer 09 at the absolute earliest, and most likely later than that.
Arkansaw
29-06-2008, 20:52
who knows? if all the delay with sc2 means they have been spending the time on d2....d2 might be released ahead of sc2
Back a couple of years ago there was an interview at IGN where someone from Blizzard made a cryptic remark that Diablo would be revisit. I can not remember how it was put, but it left the impression D3 would be seen either in 10 years or by 2010. Well it is 2008 now, and if we have a 1-2 year development, then D3 would be out in 2010.
It does look like what they need to do now is simply add in content which should not be that difficult. I always thought the core engine of games was the hardest part. One way to really get a good estimation of where they are is to look at the Blizzard job postings from 1 year ago to now.
One thing though, what we see in the video could actually be all that they have of the game so far.
It will definitely be out after SC2... I estimate 6-12mo following starcraft 2's release.
JadeSelket
29-06-2008, 23:34
Winter '09 at the least I think. But I think we'll see some cool characters to hold our interest and give us LOTS to talk about while we wait. And as someone pointed out, for once i DO want to wait. I mean, we've waited this long...now let's just let them make it perfect. I didn't really even expect a Diablo III :)
marshmallow
30-06-2008, 00:27
November 2010.
Dark_Times
30-06-2008, 00:30
Sometime in the beginning of 2010 I think.
But as long as it's not released within the next year I'm happy since I won't be able to play much for a while :-)
I've been saying Xmas 2009 for weeks, and i'm sticking to that, even though my inclination is to back it up to mid-2010, knowing blizzard.
It's hard to estimate too exactly, since we don't know how much they showed us at WWI. that could have been the latest build with everything that's good enough to show off, or they might have most of the game world done, all 5 chars fleshed out, etc, and they only showed off a small part so they'd have more to reveal in future previews and events. Obviously if the latter is closer to reality than the former, then the wait won't be as long.
I can say pretty confidently that it'll be at least 6 months from the start of a beta until release, since they spend so much time and effort on balancing and polishing. However, as huge a company as blizzard is, esp with their affiliation with activision, they can do far more in-house testing than most companies can, so their need for public testers is less. Flagship, for instance, had to open up their HGL and Mythos alphas since they simply needed more guinea pigs. (that the hgl beta was subsequently rushed and the game released unfinished is another issue).
Optimistically, I would bet summer 2009. I think best for the game and blizz is: the sooner the better, I mean, guys, imagine this stuff in two years. Its just not gonna be "awsome" anymore. That's just reality.
December 21, 2012. Same day as the Apocalypse. :D
marshmallow
30-06-2008, 02:15
Optimistically, I would bet summer 2009. I think best for the game and blizz is: the sooner the better, I mean, guys, imagine this stuff in two years. Its just not gonna be "awsome" anymore. That's just reality.
If we're lucky that's when SCII will come out.
If D3 came out two years ago it wouldn't be very impressive. There's nothing that whizz-bang "oooh" about the graphics or engine. Ditto for when WoW and Warcraft 3 came out. Or Diablo 2. Or...
mephiztophelez
30-06-2008, 02:55
optimistically: mid-late '09.
realistically: mid-late '10.
pessimistically: late '12.
I've got 2 guesses here and I will explain both.
First guess is December 2nd, 2008. Yes this is extremely soon but there is a reason. My like Flux thinks, they may have the game nearly completed. 4 years with a 60 person dev team is a ton of manhours thrown at a project. This easily eclipses Starcraft 2's dev team which is smaller since they are reusing the units from the original game and adding in a small amount more. Also, December 2nd keeps looming as a rumored launch date for any of their titles and since they hate to miss a holiday season it could be the right time.
My other guess is June 22, 2009. Right towards the tail end of the month which would make it about 1 year after launch. Honestly, even with all the setbacks on Diablo 2 they pushed it out in about 5 years. I cannot see them spending much more time than that on it. Despite the immense popularity of the Diablo franchise they would axe it like StarCraft Ghost if the development keeps encountering setbacks especially after the merger with Activision.
mitchflow
30-06-2008, 03:06
I think one of the following two dates is likely and reasonable:
june 28 '09 - diablo anniversary
Nov-dec '09 - catch the christmas croud
I'd guess the first one because they've obviously already spent a very large amount of time designing and even polishing this game. I think one year is a reasonable, albeit liberal guess.
I'd guess the latter because it's slightly more conservative, and it factors in the christmas spending. The video games industry makes more than half it's annual profit in this small timeframe. This is one of the main reasons we're seeing SC2 and WotLK almost back-to-back this winter.
I would put my chips on one of the above two guesses any day.
Starcraft 2 - mid-2009
Diablo 3 - mid-2010
guyver009
30-06-2008, 05:26
1up.com is posting Sept. 09' ... probably speculation on their part but who knows...
- G
Ha, I cannot believe one of my accounts still exists here.
Anyways, it's been like..five years, wow, time flies. Good to be back.
And, yes, Diablo 3 brought me back here.
(these are the best forums for talking all things Diablo, BY FAR, GO DIABLOII.NET, long live!)
Anyways,...again...
Release date. 2010. 2+1 = 3. It will be 2010. 2008 is half over. that leaves a year and a half to release it in 2010. 2010 sounds about right.
I am just happy to know the game REALLY exists. I don't care if it's not released until 2015. Just as long as it's REAL. O.M.G. it's like a dream come true.
If everything goes smoothly, summer 2009.
mouseman
30-06-2008, 15:25
I think one of the following two dates is likely and reasonable:
june 28 '09 - diablo anniversary
Nov-dec '09 - catch the christmas croud
I'd guess the first one because they've obviously already spent a very large amount of time designing and even polishing this game. I think one year is a reasonable, albeit liberal guess.
I'd guess the latter because it's slightly more conservative, and it factors in the christmas spending. The video games industry makes more than half it's annual profit in this small timeframe. This is one of the main reasons we're seeing SC2 and WotLK almost back-to-back this winter.
I would put my chips on one of the above two guesses any day.
I like your way of thinking and that's exactly what I am thinking, too. We will definitely know more after BlizzCon, because if it is coming Christmas this year, something big will happen at BlizzCon.
Many people seem to forget that Diablo 3 has been on the works from the year 2000 and even if it was sent back to the drawing table 2005, they have had plenty of time with the project which, by the way, really shows on the gameplay demo.
Funny thing is that I've been thinking the same way whole spring. Announcement on WWI, beta on BlizzCon, out by Christmas. It doesn't matter which was announced first, we are looking this with the outsiders perspective. Blizzard has long known they're doing D3, unlike us. So to them, it's old news and they might just as well be pretty ready with the game and anxious to surprise everyone by releasing it so close to the announcement.
NobleAtreides
30-06-2008, 15:42
With the amount of money Blizzard has rolling in from Wow-subscribers, they can afford the hardware and the talent needed, to roll out at least a demo, if not the full game, buy Late February of 2009. That would be most incredible, and perfect to chase away the winter blues. I am confident it will most definitely be sometime in 2009. With so much already worked on in the announcement, anything later than summer 2009 would be ... well, simply "delayed" on Blizzards' part to reap in the rewards. Everyone is surely to buy the game, and not pirate this. I am willing to pay 9.99 a month for Diablo 3, if they promise superior content over the free multiplayer. Well worth it.
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