As the wait continues for Diablo 4’s launch, both early access and worldwide, it’s easy to forget that the first day of the open beta had major server issues. Players couldn’t log in or faced extraordinarily long queue times, among other problems. The Server Slam fared better, but how will things be at launch?
According to Diablo series GM Rod Fergusson, all the testing has helped immensely. He told GamesRadar, “We learned a lot from each of them. We’re feeling better, like we feel good about that, like all the stuff we’ve learned.” However, remember that a developer can “never” replicate the number of players.
One analogy is having a million people coming to an amusement park, and regardless of how big it is, you can’t initially fit them all. You’ll get to that point eventually, says Fergusson. “We’ve done the work we could do to make launch day as smooth as possible. And we feel good about where we are.”
That being said, as the adage goes, “Never say never.” “We’ve done the work. We’ve done a lot of testing, so we’re prepared. But you know, never say never. It might be a little bumpy on the first day, but we hope that, as we did on those weekends, we learn and adapt.”
Diablo 4 launches on June 6th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5 and PC. Deluxe and Ultimate Edition owners gain access on June 2nd. Pre-loads are available now on all platforms. Associate game director Joseph Piepiora also has confirmed that there will be a few balance changes and bug fixes in the full version.
