Diablo III, new MMO in "next few years"

By Oli Welsh Published 13 November, 2009

Blizzard's 2010 is StarCraft II and Cataclysm.

Kotaku has secured an actual photograph of the rarest beast in gaming - a Blizzard release schedule.

The slide, from a presentation by Activision Blizzard chief finance officer Thomas Tippl, has StarCraft II, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and the upgraded Battle.net down for 2010 launches. Diablo III, Blizzard's unannounced MMO, and "StarCraft Expansion" (presumably meaning the second and third chapters of the StarCraft II trilogy) reside in a column titled "next few years". Tippl described the lineup as a "full pipeline".

That pretty much squashes any lingering hopes that Diablo III might see the light of day next year. It looks like 2011 at the earliest for the action-RPG, now.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • optimusprym8 #1 2 years ago

    Possibly DIII & GW2 in 2011... interesting...

  • UncleLou #2 2 years ago

    Damn.

  • Azazel #3 2 years ago

    /TomWaitsVoice

    What the HELL are they building in there?

  • Tomo #4 2 years ago

    Fkin hell. Is Diablo III going to be absolutely gigantic when it's released? 200 hours or by the amount of time they're spending on it.

  • towser #5 2 years ago

    2011?!

    [Darth Vader]

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    [/Darth Vader]

  • bigbadbeasty #6 2 years ago

    2011?! That seems like quite a release date jump.

    Oh well, Torchlight for now then.

  • FooAtari #7 2 years ago

    2011.... No need.

    Well gives me yet more time to work my through Diablo and Diablo 2. Assuming I ever get round it.

  • joe90 #8 2 years ago

    What is the MMO..

  • butler` #9 2 years ago

    SNORE

  • Venkman90 #10 2 years ago

    Blizzard could have it out next week if they wanted at a guess, but they want 2010 to be all about WoW and SC2, then they can own 2011 as well.

  • ps3owner #11 2 years ago

    shit

  • VicViper #12 2 years ago

    It must be nice to work in a company that can actuall put a release date that is simple 'next few years' but then again if you have the money making machine that is Warcraft I guess you can do what you want. If it wan't for the fact that so far they haven't made a bad game (at least that I'm aware of, maybe Ghost was but that never came out) they can get away with it. Kinda like Valve and Half Life Episode 3 I guess.

  • penhalion #13 2 years ago

    Given it takes them 10 years to do a sequel is anyone really waiting for these titles? I remember when Diablo 3 was announced. A lot of us forum regulars simply shrugged and said "Ignore them it's never seeing the light of day anytime in the next three years".

    I have no idea why they even bothered to announce it. I couldn't get excited because I know what they are like. The only real puzzle is why the waste millions on publicity for these titles when all the hype will be gone by the time the titles are ready to see the light of day.

  • Seoh #14 2 years ago

    If you are hungering for diablo 3 try out torchlight its really good and only £15 + it already has mods coming out.

  • Gaol #15 2 years ago

    Too right Vicviper, other dev team struggling to meet deadlines must look on with envy. Blizzard have all the time and resources they need. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the new Starcraft and Diablo are both outstanding.

  • bionutz #16 2 years ago

    mods? what kind, where??? gimme gimme gimme! The engine is really cool.

  • jonny8 #17 2 years ago

    To be fair, it's an approach to development that they've always taken. It's easier to achieve now as Morhaime and the rest are sitting upon a mountain of gold, like a group of hoary old dragons.

  • asphaltcowboy #18 2 years ago

    2011 for D3? :/

  • WinterSnowblind #19 2 years ago

    Surprised so many people are upset about the DIII 2011 news.
    If you expected it next year, you were just fooling yourself. They were NEVER going to release it the same year as SCII.

  • M83J01P97 #20 2 years ago

    Yeah... have you guys never heard o Blizzard before? The company that almost always announces something and then doesn't bother to release it until 3 or 4 years later, if at all. Blizz are just the whorish teases of the video gaming world, and we love giving them every last penny in return. Roll on 2011.

  • Dekyriel #21 2 years ago

    Since Activision Blizzard has no way to know when Blizzard releases its games, it remains vague in that way. Blizzard however did mention how it planned to release a game a year, Diablo III being in 2010.

    Even if that will not necessarily hold as a true release date, extrapolating from this screen that D3 will forcibly not be released in 2010 is pure speculation, the kind of information nobody cares about, Eurogamer.

    Shape up.

  • DirtyDubs #22 2 years ago

    Probably no point in releasing D3 yet as it will just take players from WOW which is making them a fortune. I'll guess they'll wait for the WOW trend to go down before releasing D3 to try and retain/grow their existing user base.

  • Eraysor #23 2 years ago

    Diablo 3 vs Torchlight MMO?

    That'll be a big fight.

  • FooAtari #24 2 years ago

    @M83J01P97

    Well I'd rather that, than some rehashed sequel every year...

  • WJF #25 2 years ago

    @VicViper

    Lost Vikings was a bit crap, IMO anyway. I don't think it received rave reviews back when it was released either.

    Edit: Bloody hell, 1996? Well, certainly can't think of a Blizzard game released this decade that's been naff, so your point stands.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 14:42

  • davisorle #26 2 years ago

    Yeah its been announced that no titles from Blizz will be released before 2011. Another reason to make me start dissliking Blizz more and more. Ever since WoW they let down as if they had nothing else to do after their, till then, achievements. And to be bold about it , Diablo 3 looks good for a new Diablo that took a couple of years since the original , but sloppy and poor from a company like Blizz after 10 years from the last one. This is a new Duke Nukem story for me from now on. Grats Blizz, you messed WoW up the past 1 year + and now this . Nicely done.

  • jeebthegreat #27 2 years ago

    I was 10 when I played D2. 21 when I get to play D3. What a waaaaaait :( still, gonna be awesoooome!

  • EmiliasHorse #28 2 years ago

    Dear Blizzard,
    You release it and I will buy it.

    Best regards
    Horse

    P.S I love you

  • Miths #29 2 years ago

    @penhalion
    "Given it takes them 10 years to do a sequel is anyone really waiting for these titles? I remember when Diablo 3 was announced. A lot of us forum regulars simply shrugged and said "Ignore them it's never seeing the light of day anytime in the next three years"."

    I never bother getting excited about Blizzard titles for that very reason. Some day far off in the future I'll just notice that Diablo 3 has been released and then I'll buy it and almost certainly love it.
    More or less what I did with Dragon Age: Origins actually. Although in that case I had pretty much written it off as vaporware several years ago, and then all of a sudden not much more than a month ago I notice that the thing is actually finished and ready for release :).

  • SpaceLettuce #30 2 years ago

    2011 for D3! How depressing.

  • FortysixterUK #31 2 years ago

    It's all very well holding back a game release until the game is " just right", but I can't help but think they may be very slowly shooting themselves in the foot.....example...Half Life 2 episode 3. where is that? Does anyone really care anymore ?
    Look at the awesome game releases that have happened in the last few weeks....and in a little under 4 months ( 12 weeks ) time, on March 9th, FF13 will be with us.
    Blizz do amazing games, but they do them very, very slowly. And I'm still upset Starcraft ghost never got a release. What if the same thing happens to Starcraft or Diablo?......( I really doubt it tbh )

  • mandella #32 2 years ago

    Well, D3 in 2011... I'm afraid they are trying to squeeze it onto PS3 or X360 somehow, that's why the release date is so distant. Other than that, it's definetely will be WoW vs D3, and they surely want to do it later than sooner.

    Anyway, D3 will be, in my opinion, the best selling game ever and will definetely live up to the hype. Got this strange feeling this game will be freaking HUGE.

    On the other hand, I'm worried that this merge with Activision and their "gives us more money you dumbs customers" policy will mess Blizzard up in coming years and the first real victim of this mege might be D3. Hope I'm wrong, cause I see with eyes of imagination all those paid extra services on Battle.Net, microtransactions and all this DLC shit that is so tempting for typical companies like Activision. I just hope Blizz will not become spoiled by WoW success and they won't become money whore, but seeing their approach to WoW in recent months I'm a bit worried, ehhh...
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/09 @ 01:39

  • Dekyriel #33 2 years ago

    @ all the people complaining about the delayed releases and comparing said delays with other companies':

    No one remembers a game because it was late, only because it was great. ;)

    (Excluding DNF from this statement, it was never really a game, was it? :p)
    Edited by 2 at 14/11/09 @ 02:49

  • IronCladChicken #34 2 years ago

    I guess if they are releasing StarCraft next year, it makes sense to hold D3 back till 2011 - They don't want to blow their entire load in one year - This way they can have a major release for the next few years all setup - 2010 SC2.1, 2011 D3, 2012 SC2.2...

    Shove in another WoW expansion or two along with news/screenshots/teases of their new MMO and they can keep things chugging along for a good while?

  • eizyark #35 2 years ago

    the reason why they will be releasing D3 on 2011 is because they already have 2 big games coming out next year.

    Cataclysm being one, and SC2 being the other.

    2 big titles from 1 company in the same year is pretty big already. so they don't want to kill D3 off simply because people will be torn apart from Cataclysm or SC2. releasing D3 in the same year will just be basically adding fuel to the fire (in a bad way).

    atleast this way they will be having a steady income of money. SC2 and WoW:Cataclysm next year, D3 the year after, so on and so forth.

    edit : yeh pretty depressing actually, since i'm looking forward to playing D3 myself :(
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/09 @ 09:45

  • Canyarion #36 2 years ago

    Is there anyone else more excited about SC2 than about D3??

  • FunkyRenegade #37 2 years ago

    FFFFUUUUUU-

    Actually need Diablo III, I guess Torchlight will suffice for the next TWO years :|

  • Harmonica #38 2 years ago

    "Is there anyone else more excited about SC2 than about D3??"

    A lot of people in Asia.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/09 @ 02:49

  • Skywise #39 2 years ago

    I wish they'd announce Warcraft 4 now so we could play it in 2013 :-)