When testers for the Diablo 4 endgame beta were asked not to leak information, they did so right away
A large “CONFIDENTIAL” sign? That might imply anything.
What is the proverb? If two of them are deceased, can the other three keep an NDA? Whatever it was, it has been reinforced by the recent release of the Diablo 4 endgame beta, whose playtesters flocked to Reddit to talk about it nearly as soon as they were accepted, in serious breach of the large, bold letters screaming out “CONFIDENTIAL” right there in the email.
According to an update the business released last month, Blizzard gave out the beta invites exclusively to players who “recently spent substantial amounts of time enjoying the end-game experiences of Diablo II: Resurrected, Diablo III, and Diablo Immortal.” The beta will be “secret, meaning gamers invited will not be able to publicly discuss or share their gameplay experience,” the document states. So be it.
The eager beta testers’ posts that violated their NDAs forced the Diablo 4 subreddit to take action, but the information is already public. The post-campaign for Diablo 4 has already garnered a tonne of commentary, screenshots, and gameplay videos online. The majority of the reviews, on the other hand, appear to be good thus far, which has obviously helped Blizzard recover some of its damaged confidence.
It is by no means the first leak of Diablo 4. Only a few weeks ago, 40 minutes of gameplay(opens in new tab) footage that featured a Barbarian character walking around a beta build with few textures and lots of combat surfaced online. Blizzard’s insistence on instructing testers to keep everything private seems like locking the barn door after the horse has gone and uploaded its exploits to YouTube, given how much footage and information about the game have already been released online.
Even the veneer of secrecy won’t last for very long. Early in 2023, public testing for Diablo 4 will begin, and the game itself will debut the following year. If it doesn’t leak first, that is.
