Blizzard Announces Diablo 4 Closed Beta for 2022

ign.com:

Blizzard has announced that hardcore Diablo fans will get the chance to play in a Diablo 4 closed beta this year, while a public beta while arrive in early 2023.

Announced in a Blizzard blog post, the publisher announced that players who've recently invested "significant amounts of time" playing the end-games of Diablo 2: Resurrected, Diablo 3, or Diablo: Immortal will be eligible to participate in the test.

Unlike most betas that give players access to the first few hours of the game, the Diablo 4 beta will do the opposite, letting players straight into the end-game. It's available across all platforms - PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and PC - with cross-play and cross-progression.

"We have decided to focus the closed beta on Diablo 4’s end-game offerings for a few reasons," Blizzard said in the post. "The full story of Lilith’s return to Sanctuary is not something we would like to spoil prior to release; players will experience a post-campaign Sanctuary during the closed end-game beta.

"Also, for many, the end-game is their favourite aspect of Diablo. We want to ensure it feels satisfying, and with no shortage of challenging variety to experience across many, many demon-slaying gaming sessions."

Players who think they've played enough end-game Diablo recently will receive an email invite to the beta, though only if their marketing options are enabled on Battle.net (instructions on how to do so are available in the blog post).

This must be done by October 18, and invites will be sent no later than November 18. Blizzard did say this will be "the first of a few opportunities" for people to experience Diablo 4 ahead of its 2023 release date, and also confirmed that "public testing phases will begin early next year".

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