Diablo 4 devs commit to a smooth launch after "transformational" beta tests

DIablo 4's Inarius close to smiting down a foe
(Image credit: Blizzard)

The developers working on Diablo 4 have said the game's beta tests have been "transformational" and ensured the upcoming MMORPG a smooth launch. 

In an interview with Eurogamer, Diablo 4 art director John Mueller and associate game director Joe Piepiora discussed the importance of the last few open betas, explaining that they were "not marketing betas" and essential in making sure the game's full launch goes as smooth as possible. 

"Every one of these betas has been transformational in terms of our understanding of our own technical capacity and what we need to do to make that a smoother launch experience in general," Piepiora explains. "These are not marketing betas, none of them were. Everything has been about, we need data to make sure the launch goes smooth. That's entirely the purpose of the betas we did," the developer continues. 

Mueller even went as far as saying the team was "confident" about Diablo 4's launch on June 6 thanks to it "learning a tonne" through the various beta tests fans have participated in over the last few months. Diablo 4's latest open beta, dubbed the Server Slam, took place just a few days ago and, thankfully, ran without any major issues for players. 

"Even this last one where it was really smooth," Piepiora explains, "we still found things happening in the back end that if left unresolved, would have resulted in some issues during the launch experience." The developer continues: "We caught those only because we did this extra weekend." 

Interestingly, the duo revealed to Eurogamer that Blizzard ran internal testing on Diablo 4 with millions of automated accounts but this just isn't the same as real-life players from all over the world testing the game's servers.

While we wait for that June release date, find out what you can play in the meantime with our games like Diablo list.  

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.