Diablo 4 general manager Rod Fergusson discusses the recent beta server issues and how their discovery has led to a better game launch in June. The day many Diablo fans were waiting for finally took place this past weekend as the Early Access beta went live. Players who either received a promotional Diablo 4 code from KFC or from pre-ordering the game were granted access to Act 1 as well as three classes that could be maxed out at level 25.
While most players seemed to enjoy what was on offer, the beta weekend wasn't without issues. On Friday, March 17, many fans flooded the servers to get started on their journey, though it seems Diablo 4's servers were quickly overwhelmed by the demand. Players began seeing long queue times just to access the game, while many who did manage to get past that were suddenly hit by connection and other errors. While no doubt frustrating for players, the data is invaluable to Blizzard who was able to fix and adapt, ultimately ensuring a stronger product at launch.
In a recent interview, Diablo 4 general manager Rod Fergusson discussed the beta issues and how ultimately, the test helped discover problems that would be hard to otherwise discover internally. Fergusson clarified that the word beta has even become a bit misconstrued, with many assuming they are more or less demos, though for Blizzard, this first technical beta was a way for the studio to test out the technology powering Diablo 4 and to discover various issues well ahead of launch.
Ultimately, the first beta session did its job, bringing dozens of issues, both big and small, to light. Blizzard was able to respond by issuing six hotfixes to Diablo 4 to address queue time and server related issues, which, according to Fergusson, should improve the upcoming Open Beta, and then the actual game launch later this year. While Fergusson does admit that it can be frustrating for players, finding these bugs and issues are helping Blizzard make the launch of the game that much better.
Our beta is actually us testing our technology – especially on the server side. We had a little bit of a rocky start on Friday. Sometimes as a player it can be a little frustrating, but they have to recognise that they’re helping us make the actual launch of the game that much better.
It's likely that fans are hoping the issues discovered over these next two weekends will go a long way to helping the final product as Blizzard has a track record with poor launches. The most recent example being Overwatch 2, which suffered with server problems and DDoS issues for a few days at launch. Diablo 3, the last mainline release in the franchise, also had its own fair share of server related issues and connection problems
Diablo 4 launches on June 6, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: NME