After a few delays and many recitations of Blizzard's "We'll release it when it's ready" mantra, Diablo III finally has a release date: May 15th. On that date, Blizzard's click-heavy action RPG will be available on PC and Mac for $59.99 USD in almost every region. Latin American and Russian players will need to wait until June 7th.

Digital presales for Diablo III start today, World of Warcraft players interested in picking up a free copy may still do so by purchasing a WoW Annual Pass before May 1st.

For interested parties, Blizzard will also be selling a Diablo III Collector’s Edition for $99.99. The retail exclusive package includes a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD set, a soundtrack CD, a 208-page art book, and a 4GB USB trinket carrying full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. It will also come with exclusive content for Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty – most likely in-game items along the lines of a WoW minipet.

The press release touts Diablo III’s real money auction house and robust Battle.net-based matchmaking, yet it makes no mention of the planned player-versus-player arena. This is likely because Diablo III will be launching without it. “The PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards,” Blizzard’s Jay Wilson wrote on Battle.net last week. “After a lot of consideration and discussion, 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.”

Source: Blizzard

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  • coldpower27 - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    Finally a release date, will be getting a Collector's edition, I love Blizzard there game quality is pretty much second to none!
  • tigz1218 - Friday, March 16, 2012 - link

    You realize Collector's Edition are a huge waste of money and all it really is, is a market tool to analyze how much gamers are willing to pay for a game. So because of you thousands of other sheep buyers the prices of games inflate for everyone else. Thanks.
  • Arkive - Friday, March 16, 2012 - link

    And what exactly are you basing that nonsense on? Whatever market data they ascertain from the sales of collector's edition boxes will only affect the cost of future collector's edition boxes. It's completely retarded to think the price of the base game will be affected by anything other then retail sales + digital sales + current market appeal to the Diablo franchise.
  • Akrovah - Friday, March 16, 2012 - link

    Depends on the game, and of course personnl preference. For instance the Mass Effect 3 CE (Quips about the end not needed, we all know the general consensus was that it was bad.) comes with the From Ashes DLC, itself a $10 value, plus the soundtrack which when it is eventually released on Amazon/iTunes will probably go from somewhere around $8-$10. So already you have made up for the $20 increase over the bas price of the game, plus you get the art book, comic, etc. So it is actually a pretty good deal IF you are they kind of player who also listens to soundtracks and likes seeing the concept art, etc. Which personnaly I am.

    Your mileage may vary. But to make a blanket statement that CE's are just a waste of money is to disregard the preferences of others. To some they are very very worth it.

    And since when has the CE ever EVER had an impact on the base price of future games. I'm pretty sure the price went up because Sony and MS proved people would pay a little more with the $60 price model of the 360 and PS3.
  • The0ne - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link

    I have to disagree even though I rarely purchase collector's edition. Blizzards artwork alone is amazing and worth the purchase. I would highly recommend them if you like art. However, if you don't like it there's not much reason to really get it. Same for CE's that includes full blown maps, really nice manual and guide book like medieval fantasy types :) Ah, the old days. I could care less about in-game items, pets, DLC or the like but that's just me.
  • Andrew.a.cunningham - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    ClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClick
  • Andrew.a.cunningham - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    ClickClickClickClickClickClick
  • siberus - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    pk's!!!! o wait there's no pvp... carry on
  • BSMonitor - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    Now now, call it Blizzard's "Keep your index finger in shape" initiative. It's been getting a little pudgy just tapping a few trigger buttons on the 360 controller.
  • Andrew.a.cunningham - Thursday, March 15, 2012 - link

    Don't get me wrong, I'll probably end up buying this. :-) I actually might be a little more excited about Torchlight 2, though...

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