Diablo III sort of confirmed for Q2 2012

@JadoCast

It is getting old (and is unappreciated) but I would venture since they were talking to Investors, they have to be more specific (even if it proves to be false later) because the business world really doesn't like vague dates, especially this late in the production cycle.

There are ways you can say putting off dates, but they are hard to pull off, especially as more time passes (and you've used your too many "coming soon" statements). I should know because I've dealt with this kind of thing in business and really, I also appreciate a firm deadline given to me when I have a project due, too.

@Space Cobra Agreed! I'm in business too, and our mantra is "Under promise and Over deliver!"

A good example of a pleasant surprise is KOA: Reckoning, it wasn't hyped too early, so playing a solid game that was hyped up only months before release was a nice change.

@Greymantle I personaly think D3 will be more popular then GW2 as 1. Its much more well known 2. Will likly have an advertizing blitz (outside of gaming press) and is singleplayer/multiplayer rather then just multiplayer. I think if anything GW2 should look out and hopfuly not realease near D3.

I just hope Blizz is not saving D3 launch for when GW2 comes out like when they release content patches when a competitor releases for WOW.

@avaloner I wouldn't put it past Actiblizz to hold the release announcement until it can be used as an attack to take some of the steam out of the Guild Wars 2 launch.

It's become their SOP, and it makes me sick to see. It's nothing less than bullying behavior.

@Borick Diablo 2 probably had more people logged in at once today than GW2 ever will, so it's not like they have to fear the competition much in that regard. :p

Sad but true.

@oddshrub Diablo II can also run on machines that were made before the turn of the century. Diablo III, not so much. I think that the folks that still enjoy DII but never bothered to upgrade their rigs may be in for a bit of a surprise when they finally get their hands on the latest sequel.

@avaloner

D3 is Multyplayer only...it's been said so SEVERAL times in SEVERAL interviews.

Also, being well-known holds almost no bearing in the market today. Case-&-Point: Trion and Rift / Bioware and SW:TOR.

@avaloner

Blizzard make great games and they're good to their customers - something sadly not true of all developers. And I enjoyed D2 a lot. But D3 isn't on my radar.

On the other hand I am positively drooling for GW2.

At least from I've seen D3 isn't doing anything hugely new. GW2 is re-inventing the wheel and I couldn't be more keen to play it.

@Meurik

If you look at the sub numbers from last year at the same time and this year, they actually gained 7%.

@Meurik

100K lost in 4th Q is irrelevant. The question is .. how many are they loosing in 2012 with possibly no Expansion coming and zero new content. Even next news about the expansion is more than month away.

My prediction is that WOW will loose over 2 million players in 2012. I base that mainly on my feeling that Blizzard will not get MOP out - and they already know that by now. Also - DIablo 3 will take huge chunk of WOW players away. Its possible that Blizzard will offer some sort of deal for players to be able to buy extra items in Diablo 3 with their sub money in WOW - but if not then huge number of ppl will be leaving WOW.

@Meurik from a marketing perspective the annual pass was probably aimed at Diablo 3 more than anything else. They need to make sure people keep playing long enough for PandaTown to hit, and they also needed to release it far enough infront of Diablo 3 to make it appear like a "deal".

With diablo 3 coming out half a year later, and possibly a PandaTown beta/release by christmas it's perfect timing.

That it just happened to bitch slap SWTOR in the face was probably a lucky coincidence. But modesty aside SWTOR isn't going to be a real competitor to WOW until they implement a group finding tool. Nobody wants to sit in a chat channel for 2 hours trying to setup a group when they're used to just signing up for a queue.

So if anything the WOW raid finder was probably all Blizzard had needed to prevent a massive loss to SWTOR.

Not that SWTOR and GW2 won't do well, but the majority of the players in SWTOR are people who wouldn't play WOW anyway and GW2 doesn't have a monthly subscription.

@Maseno
Where do you get that from? WoW had a high of 12 million in October of 2010 and they have had a slide ever since. So please, show your reference that they are up 7% over this time last year.

@Poordevil april, may and june.