Diablo 4’s beta begins in March

Diablo 4‘s beta will begin in March, it’s been announced.

Confirmed during IGN Fan Fest, Diablo 4’s director Joe Shely told IGN that the game’s beta will take place just a few months before its full release in June.

Diablo 4’s beta will run from March 17 until March 19 for those players who have pre-ordered the game. Those who haven’t will get a chance to experience the beta from March 24 until March 26.

According to Shely, the beta will have no time limit, and players will be able to progress until level 25, with almost all of the game’s first act included. It’s currently unclear if progress will carry across the two beta periods.

Alongside this, the game’s opening cinematic (embedded above) was also revealed on Saturday.

Diablo 4 will release on June 6. However, players who preorder the ultimate or deluxe versions of the game will be granted early access on June 2. This will also grant them access to the early beta period.

As more information on Diablo 4 has been released, the game’s director and associate game director have consistently stressed that players won’t be able to spend real money to upgrade their character’s abilities.

It’s understood that there will still be microtransactions of some kind, but they won’t be tied to player progression following the backlash to mobile entry Diablo Immortal.

In VGC’s preview of the game, we said that, “we’d wager that the aim for Diablo 4 is that when the game is finally released, players in the community that were outraged, and rightly so, about Diablo Immortal sit back and think, “oh yeah, this is Diablo.”