Diablo 3 ‘external’ beta coming Q3 2011

Wrap your mind around that headline: Some time this year, specifically between July and September, someone that doesn’t work for Blizzard is going to be putting some heavy time into Diablo 3 … or at least that’s the plan. Here’s the full quote from Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime, speaking today during Activision’s quarterly earnings call, for fear you won’t believe it unless it’s straight from the source:

“We began internal company-wide testing last week,” Morhaime confirmed. “The game looks great, and we’re currently targeting a Q3 launch for external beta testing.”

Though Morhaime says the team’s working to get the game out before 2012, he stopped short of making any official release date announcement. Surprise.

Source:
Joystiq

Blizzard pro-cannibalism: Diablo 3 could eat into World of Warcraft audience

While Blizzard cofounder Frank Pearce is unexpectedly bullish on EA‘s prospects with its Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO – and of course Blizz‘s own next-gen, untitled “Titan” MMO – he sees another potential product that could cannibalize his massive World of Warcraft audience.

“I think even a shorter-term concern is whether or not we might see cannibalization of WoW players from Diablo 3 when we launch it, because it’s a similar type of experience,”

Pearce told Gamasutra.

“Not exactly similar, but it’s that RPG feel.”

While Diablo 3 currently has no release date – it’s possible it may not make it out this year – Pearce said

“it’s better we cannibalize them ourselves than let someone else do that, because if we cannibalize them ourselves, they’re still a Blizzard customer.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is maybe the only kind of cannibalism that we can endorse!

Source:
Gamasutra
Joystiq