No Diablo 3 In 2011 Says Activision.... Well Maybe?

AngelfireUk83 · Feb 11, 2011

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6298345.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;14

In the call, Activision COO and CFO Thomas Tippl specifically said that with no current release window for Blizzard's Diablo III, the publisher "felt it prudent" to omit the game from its 2011 financial outlook numbers.

"We think that in the long run, Blizzard is good for one major new release a year," Tippl said. "But of course, what always rules is that the quality of the game has to be there."

Tippl pointed out that there was no major Blizzard game in 2009 due to the delay of Starcraft II. However, the developer made up for that hole in its release schedule by launching both the sci-fi real-time strategy game and the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion in 2010. If such a situation happens again and there's no Blizzard game released this year, Tippl suggested there would likely be two major titles from the developer in 2012.

Looking at when I pre-ordered this game it was 2008 lol I know Blizzard take there time with there games but come on if it's like StartCraft 2 12yrs to even get that out. And probaby 5 of that was probably putting that game together story wise and art design surly Diablo 3 is ready I've seen some gameplay and it looks great.

I've even heard the Zerg add-on to SC2 wont be out till 2022 dont know if thats a miss type or true but if it took 12yrs to get the Terran part of the game out then I believe it.

On Diablo 3 shame they took out the Sorceress I still have mt lv75 character thought she was a cool character.

Prime · Feb 11, 2011

You know i can understand taking your time.. but really Blizzardand its 12+ year release cycles is just rediculious and pushing fan base away if you ask me. Its a huge company they can do better.

don'tknow · Feb 11, 2011

It's a combination of several major factors. Diablo3 being free to play is one; Blizzard hates that model, they want to heavily support their pay to play model, and it's possible that D3 may take some players away from WoW and their new mmo coming out. SC2 is already partially doing this to a small degree, but it's nowhere near the same type of game as D3 which is more likely to appeal to the WoW type of playerbase.

Another factor, already mentioned, is their new MMO. They rather put more people to work on that game since it will presumably make them a hell lot more money than D3. So they use the 'but quality is very very important!' excuse, which in Blizzard's language translates to 'too few people working on that game because most of their resources are aimed towards something else that would give more profits'.

Marshmallow64 · Feb 11, 2011

I think its gonna take maybe 2 years or so before we see this released knowing blizzard.

Mr.DLucey · Feb 11, 2011

It's worth the wait what ever it is. They know what their doing better then us. Quality takes time. If they just chunk out games they will loose more gamer base then making us wait.

JonSimonzi · Feb 11, 2011

C'mon now Blizzard. This summer will make 3 years since you announced the game. 3 YEARS! I was really expecting a holiday '11 release.

madhatter256 · Feb 11, 2011

So they are pushing the game till next year so that Activisions financial report can look good for next year??? That's stupid, but it works if you think about it. sucks to wait, but oh well. Stupid Activision.

arcanise · Feb 11, 2011

the way i see it is blizzard controls 3 major game types
RPG - diablo series
RTS - starcraft series
MMO - WOW series

and with this control, they can essentially do what ever they so please. what blizzard fan is not going to buy one of their games new or old due to game delays?!

don'tknow · Feb 12, 2011

They have some amount of leverage in the RTS and MMO genres. But RPG's in general... not even close.

cornbread · Feb 12, 2011

Blizzard has gone to **** in my opinion since activision got involved.

Automata · Feb 12, 2011

I'd rather wait for a quality game.

If I want a lot of really bad games, I'll take a look at EA.

cornbread · Feb 12, 2011

I'd rather wait for quality myself. I'm hoping the lead designer isn't GC though, sorry that was just a cheap jab at WoW'ers, lol.

Slayn · Feb 14, 2011

Blizzard controls the RPG market?

Diablo is an RPG?

Bioware is not happy with this.

Janus67 · Feb 14, 2011

Slayn said:
Blizzard controls the RPG market?

Diablo is an RPG?

Bioware is not happy with this.

I would say it is more accurate to say that Blizzard controls the top-down RPG genre. Bioware controls the 3rd-person/over the shoulder RPG. Bethesda does a bit more of the First-person RPG split somewhat with Bioware.

I'm not surprised at all about the probable delay, it will come out when it comes out and the game will be great. That is what makes Blizzard games better than most is that they release when they are ready and not still super buggy (EA+Dice+IWard, I'm looking at you)

mstersmith · Feb 14, 2011

With my dissapointment in SC2 (play more online custom maps, have yet to finish single player), the fact Blizz has delayed every game they have set out to publish except WoW xpacs. I am begining to believe that making a great has little to do with man power or time. I love Cata it was released on time or within the projected time frame for release. So why so long on the games you can not contiously cash in on? Hmmmm......

Automata · Feb 14, 2011

mstersmith said:
the fact Blizz has delayed every game they have set out to publish except WoW xpacs

Huh? Pretty sure BC was pushed back a little bit and I know for sure Wrath was. Cata was pretty solid, but they waited quite a long time to give a date.

DaveHCYJ · Feb 14, 2011

mstersmith said:
With my dissapointment in SC2 (play more online custom maps, have yet to finish single player), the fact Blizz has delayed every game they have set out to publish except WoW xpacs. I am begining to believe that making a great has little to do with man power or time. I love Cata it was released on time or within the projected time frame for release. So why so long on the games you can not contiously cash in on? Hmmmm......

The mythical man month has alot to do with why these things get pushed back. You can't just throw money and people at some developement problems and make them go away. Sometimes to get the quality you desire you just need to give the super tallented people working on it more time to finish. At a certain point, throwing more/new people at a problem just makes it worse as the experienced people have to stop what they are doing to mentor the new people.

thideras said:
Huh? Pretty sure BC was pushed back a little bit and I know for sure Wrath was. Cata was pretty solid, but they waited quite a long time to give a date.

BC definately was. Diablo 2 was pushed back almost a full year. Blizzard delaying games "until its done" is not really new. You could probably find forum posts that are over 10 years old and it would be the same story: people will complain about waiting, but in the end still enjoy the game, and in fact enjoy it more because of the level of care put into the game.

Black C5 Z06 · Feb 14, 2011

They can take as much time as they need, in my opinion. Same with Bioware. There are plenty of mediocre games coming out, if I want that. I'll be glad to wait for the excellent games.

mstersmith · Feb 14, 2011

thideras said:
Huh? Pretty sure BC was pushed back a little bit and I know for sure Wrath was. Cata was pretty solid, but they waited quite a long time to give a date.

You are correct. They were not 12 years worth though. I have always defended Blizzards stance of its done when its done. It is becoming more of its done when the things that make us have golden toilet seats is done and then we get to that sequal to the game which made us famous lol.

DaveHCYJ · Feb 14, 2011

mstersmith said:
You are correct. They were not 12 years worth though.

The only game I know of that's been delayed on the order of 12 years is Duke Nukem Forever and that probably doesn't even really count.

There is a difference between delays, normal production time, and down time between productions.

Just like starcarft, D3 had downtime between its last release and the start of the latest production. And its not delayed unless they miss a target date or quarter or half or year.

To be fair to starcraft, there was a long downtime after the release of the original. To use Starwars as an example -- did the prequels miss a bunch of production deadlines slowly delaying them for 20 years, or did George Lucas take a break?

No Diablo 3 In 2011 Says Activision.... Well Maybe?

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