The wait is almost over, as Activision Blizzard has announced that Diablo 3 will be officially released from the Burning Hells on May 15, 2012. The PC game will be available in physical form at retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The digital edition will be available via Battle.net in the same territories as well as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.
"Players in the listed Latin American countries and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo 3 at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7," the company reports. "In addition to the English version, Diablo 3 will be fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and Traditional Chinese."
Starting Thursday (today), fans can pre-purchase the digital version here. Current World of Warcraft players are also encouraged to sign up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass which provides a free digital copy of Diablo 3 when paying for a 1-year commitment to the popular MMORPG. The long-awaited game will be playable immediately whereas the Annual Pass will provide an in-game mount for World of Warcraft as well as access to the Mists of Pandaria beta test. This offer will no longer be available as of 12:01 am PDT on May 1, so head here to get into the cool club.
Diablo 3 will arrive on Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 and Macintosh at a suggested price of $59.99 USD for both the retail DVD version and the digital version sold directly from Blizzard. Of course, a PC game release wouldn't be complete without a special version for the trinket collector, and Blizzard doesn't fail to deliver. A special alabaster-white Collector's Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores at a suggested retail price of $99.99 USD, will include the full game on DVD, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo 3 soundtrack CD, and a 208-page Art of Diablo 3 book.
But that's not all! The Collector's Edition will also include a 4 GB USB soulstone -- which includes full versions of Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction just itching to be installed on your rig -- and a corresponding Diablo skull base. The Collector's package will also include exclusive in-game content for Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
"After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we're now in the homestretch," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo 3 over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15."
Need to change your pants now? Really, we totally get it. It's OK. Those long hours of clicking into the early-morning hours are about to begin, so now's a good time to start stocking up that little mini-fridge sitting under the desk. You have until May 15, so get busy.
Seriously, we should create a guild for Diablo 3. What would be a good name? Jane's Addiction?
