It Appears That You Might Be Getting Diablo III Sooner Than Expected - Voodoo Extreme
Earlier today there was some gossip going about on how BestBuy.com changed the release dates shown on their Diablo 3 product pages to February 1st, 2012. Then there were reports that a Best Buy store put up a promotional end cap for Diablo III with a digital countdown timer leading to February 1st.
Well, the guys at Joystiq received a copy of the very same picture that was posted on the Diablo III forums, and verified via a phone call to a Rochester, Minnesota Best Buy store that the Diablo 3 promotional display does indeed exist. The Best Buy employee that spoke with Joystiq also confirmed that their store would be doing a midnight launch for Diablo III on February 1st, 2012.
We decided to reach out to a store off of Geary Blvd in San Francisco, CA, and spoke with a video games department sales rep that confirmed that the store systems had been updated with a February 1st, 2012 release date for Diablo III. Unfortunately however promotional materials like the one captured in the photo spreading about the internet had not been put up yet according to the employee.
Current listings on the Best Buy website for both the standard and collector's edition of Diablo III now reflect the February 1st release date. On the other side of the pond Gameplay now lists a February 3rd release date for UK customers. Considering the date changes on the Diablo III product pages at major retailers in both the US and UK, along with the photo and confirmation on the promotional end cap at the Minnesota Best Buy, it's looking like a February release date is close to being a sure thing.
We've sent a note off to our contacts at Blizzard, and will update this post once we hear something more official.
Update: Target.com lists a February 7th release date.
