Games publisher Blizzard has confirmed that the third instalment of its action role-playing game Diablo will not be released next year.

Rob Pardo, vice president of game design at Blizzard, said their developers follow a distinct style which makes it difficult to predict exact release dates.

He said: "Each game has individual development teams; that's just the way that we develop games, we develop them very iteratively.

"We just have a different process and approach than a lot of other studios, and it makes it a very difficult process for us to predict street dates when we're multiple years out."

But he admitted that Blizzard's habit of announcing big titles early may leave some fans disappointed.

Mr Pardo added: "We always announce all of our games too early. We realize that and go, 'You know what? Next time we're not going to do that.' And then we always fail at that.

"But I'd rather fail at that than fail at making the game great. I think it's safe to say that Diablo III is not going to be out next year."

"We're definitely not fiscal calendar-driven. And we know that our fanbase is not going to hold us to a fiscal calendar."

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