[IMG News]

During a recent presentation in New York Activision Blizzard CFO Thomas Tippl revealed release date plans for its upcoming games and expansions. StarCraft II, an updated Battle.net, and WoW: Cataclysm are planned for 2010 releases while Diablo III, the unannounced MMO, and further StarCraft 2 expansions are slated for the "next few years."

While StarCraft II, an upgraded Battle.Net and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm are all firmly pinned down to 2010 releases, Diablo III, StarCraft II expansion packs and Blizzard's next MMO still show a release date of the "next few years".

During a presentation in New York today, Thomas Tippl, Activision Blizzard chief financial officer, raved about the strong business done by Blizzard games. He said the division has a full pipeline of content, which he presented in the slide pictured here.

While the lineup confirms continued World of Warcraft support and a Starcraft II launch in 2010 (with expansions to follow after), Diablo III was marked to be released in 2011 at the soonest.

Head over to Kotaku at the link below for more information.

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[Hansi]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Janichsan]

That's actually news? This was to be expected.

[wymer100]

I'm not really surprised although it's nice to know officially. I'd rather them say 2012 and actually ship in 2012 than say 2011 and not ship to 2012. Blizzard has always been bad at predicting launch dates. Blizzard doesn't rush games like others do. I appreciate it.

[Agent5]

If they're not going to release Diablo III for over a year I wish they would stop flipping telling us about it. How frustrating is it to have such an exciting release dangled in front of you for such a long period of time, being goaded into new heights of excitement again and again without anything concrete to justify it. When did we first start receiving information about this game? The middle of last year? I'd rather not know that the game is going to be coming out eventually. There's enough time between the announcement and the release to have a child and teach it to speak.

[UmarOMC1]

Hansi, on November 13th 2009, 12:32 PM, said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My reaction, verbatim. What I expected... not what I wanted to hear.

Now, where's that Torchlight game for OS X...

[cleansanchez]

My take is that the early release of news about DIII just had to happen for fear that any existing base of purchasers from DII, which was a massive success, would be lost PLUS the need to project ideas and directions for DIII and gauge the reaction of hard core fans.

But makes it more frustrating. So near and yet so far away.

The one game I always go back too.

Hey, we got our brand new Paladin and Assassin heroes levelled up to Nightmare Act II last weekend. Heaps of skill points left over. Picked up some useful rare gear for other heroes. And....