Blizzard Entertainment has told NME that while Diablo 4 suffered a series of “frustrating” technical issues during its first beta, the experience “will make the actual launch of the game that much better.”
On Friday, March 17, the first Diablo 4 beta test began for all those who have pre-ordered Diablo 4 or received a beta code through a promotional offer.
However, the test was plagued by technical issues: long queues and server crashes were noticeable on the first day, and regional issues affected European servers on Saturday (March 18).
The beta ends today (March 20) and while the issues have been largely resolved, some fans have not been able to play the beta as much as they had hoped.
Speaking to NME’s Jake Tucker, Diablo CEO Rod Fergusson discussed how the beta will be used to pave the way for next weekend’s open beta, along with the game’s full release.
“Today, the word beta has been misunderstood and people start calling things beta that [en realidad] they’re a marketing beta and it’s just another term for a demo,” Fergusson explains. Our beta is all about testing our technology, mostly on the server. We got off to a bit of a bumpy start on Friday.”
“We’ve released six hotfixes over the weekend, fixed dozens of issues, and all of that work is going to pay off next weekend and then pave the way for launch,” he continued. “Sometimes as a player it can be a bit frustrating, but you have to acknowledge that you are helping us make the actual launch of the game that much better.”
The Diablo 4 Open Beta will begin on March 24 and run until March 26. Afterwards, the game will be fully released on June 6.
Elsewhere in our interview, Fergusson revealed that the classes in the game shouldn’t always feel equally balanced.
