It has been 11 years since the last main entry in the Diablo series. The one and only expansion for Diablo 3 came out in 2014 and received several free updates over the years. After many years of waiting, Diablo 4 was officially announced at Blizzcon 2019. After several years have passed, Diablo 4 not only has a release date of June 6th, but also it is just around the corner.
With only a week to go, it won't be long before players can get their hands on the highly anticipated sequel to Diablo 3. But for players who can't wait that long, there is good news. Diablo 4 can be played several days earlier than that, and here is how to do it.
How to Play Diablo 4 Early
For players hoping to get to play Diablo 4 early, they will be pleased to know that there is no luck involved with being one of the first to take the fight to Lilith. In fact, players just simply need to pre-order certain versions of Diablo 4. If players pre-order the Standard Edition of Diablo 4 (which costs $69.99), they will be able to access the game on June 6th at 4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST.
However, if players pre-order the Digital Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4 ($89.99 and $99.99 respectively), they will get to play during the Early Access period. Early Access begins on June 1st at 4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST. For other time zones, Early Access begins on June 2nd at 12 AM GMT. In addition, pre-ordering the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition will also grant players a wide variety of cosmetic rewards in Diablo 4 along with other Blizzard games like Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft. Ultimate Edition also grants accelerated progress in the first Seasonal Battle Pass for Diablo 4.
Regardless of which edition of the game that players pre-ordered, pre-load for Diablo 4 begins on May 30th at 4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST. In either scenario, players will want to make sure that they have taken advantage of pre-load so that the game is ready to go on release day, and they don't have to waste any time installing the game while everyone else is playing. This is especially helpful since Diablo 4 has a fairly large file size (85 to 90 GB depending on platform).
Unlike the open beta and server slam events, story progress and characters from Early Access are kept on launch day. So even when Early Access is over, players do not have to worry about losing anything that they've obtained so far. While there were cosmetics that players could obtain for participating in the open beta and server slam, there are no exclusive cosmetics for the Early Access period.
Diablo 4 releases June 6th on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Early Access begins on June 1st.