Diablo III Finally Gets a Release Date Blizzard's long-awaited action-RPG will be available in May 2012

Blizzard has announced Diablo III will launch on May 15, 2012. You can pre-purchase the game now through Battle.net. 


Diablo III is one of two products expected from Blizzard in 2012. The developer is also working on Heart of the Swarm, the next version of StarCraft II, and Mists of Pandaria, an expansion to its popular MMO World of Warcraft, and has not clarified which will launch in 2012. 


In recent months Blizzard has announced that a few features had to be trimmed to make this launch date, including the PvP modeand Mystic artisan. Blizzard's current plan is to patch the PvP mode in at a later date. 


Diablo III will launch in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southest Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau at retail locations. The game will be download-only in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil on March 15. On June 7, Diablo III will be made available digitally in Russia. 


If you want the standard verison of Diablo III, it will cost $59.99 to download and at retail. A Collector's Edition can also be ordered for $99, which includes quite a bit of bonus content. If you want to play the minute Diablo III launches, however, you're probably going to want the digital version. If you order a boxed copy, you have to wait for it to arrive before you can redeem the activation code. 


Blizzard is also running a World of Warcraft-related promotion for Diablo III, called World of Warcraft Annual Pass. By signing up to pay for World of Warcraft for one year, you get Diablo III for free, as well as a few other WoW bonuses. 


For a lot more on Diablo III, including plenty of coverage of its ongoing closed beta test, you can check out IGN's previousarticles and videos. 


Source: ign.com