Everybody Look Surprised - Diablo III Delayed Again.

[El Mahdi]

Everybody look surprised--Diablo III has been delayed again - Yahoo! News

It looks like fans of Diablo III will have to wait a little longer for the game to hit shelves. Try to act surprised. But really, it’s already been 12 years, what’s a few more months/years/decades?

The thing that makes this delay especially troubling is the amount of work that Blizzard suggests still needs to be done. Typically, when a game is delayed for technical reasons (as opposed to marketing reasons) it is just a matter of fixing glitches and polishing a few things—and that is for games that have had development cycles closer to 2-3 years than the 12 years that Diablo 3 has had. This delay actually sounds like a major overhaul of a few of the game’s core systems.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would rather have an awesome Diablo III next year than a mediocre one this spring. I was in the beta (I suppose I still am) and it doesn't have that X factor yet. Good on them for continuing to iterate and polish until it sings.

 

[JoeGKushner]

M'eh?

Hell, maybe it'll be optimized for iPads something

 

[Bullgrit]

I work in the software industry. I'm not a coder, but I work with them. (I'm a tech writer.) And I just can't conceive of anything that would cause a program to take 12 years to complete for release.

Bullgrit

 

[Umbran]

And I just can't conceive of anything that would cause a program to take 12 years to complete for release.

Not actually putting full force behind developing for, oh, 9 of those years might do that. Of the 12 years, we don't know how long a properly sized team has been coding on Diablo, do we? I would presume that development and maintenance on World of Warcraft has been a major distraction from getting other work done.

 

[jonesy]

I work in the software industry. I'm not a coder, but I work with them. (I'm a tech writer.) And I just can't conceive of anything that would cause a program to take 12 years to complete for release.

World of Warcraft?

 

[Croesus]

As others have said, better for them to release a great game late than an average game on time.

But unless Blizzard backs away from the online-only requirement, I doubt I'll be picking this up, however good it is.

 

[Starman]

 

[tecnowraith]

Maybe Torchlight 2 will beat the release of Diablo 3?

 

[Sammael]

As a long-time coder, software designer, and (now) project manager, I can only say that this is gross mismanagement at hand. Coders are not to blame, and Diablo is not exactly the hardest game in the world to program.