Remember when Blizzard would delay games indefinitely, saying that their next game would be released “when it’s finished?” Well, I guess Blizzard is getting a little more flexible with their old standards, as the company announced today that the highly anticipated Diablo III would be dropping PVP mode so that the game could be released earlier.In their official statement, Blizzard justified the loss of PVP by saying “”We ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete.”
Their reasoning certainly makes sense from a business perspective, but the decision still flies in the face of Blizzard’s old mantra of “it’s done when it’s done,” and a lot of Diablo’s most hardcore fans are already up in arms over the decision. Blizzard is promising that the promised PVP content, including specialized Arena maps, achievements, and leaderboards, will be added back into the game via a later patch. I suppose you could interpret this news as another example of a company releasing a game before it’s ready (*cough* Bethesda *cough*), but that’s a rant for another day. PVP or not, I’m sure Diablo III will still sell a bazillion copies, and I’ll still waste another 100 hours of my life looking for rare loot.
Source: Joystiq
Chris Hernandez
This is good news for me, and should be good news for everyone. They aren’t releasing a broken game, just a game that’s missing a component, while still being fully playable via other methods.