Diablo III to Ship Without PVP

Blizzard announced today that it has cut Diablo III‘s PVP system from the initial release of the game in an effort to get the game out in a timely manner.

Today, we wanted to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to hold back the PvP Arena system and release it in a patch following the game’s launch,” Blizzard’s Jay Wilson wrote in a blog post.

“After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete.”

That doesn’t mean that Diablo III‘s PVP system was scrapped for good, however. Wilson went on the post to explain that the system will be introduced in a patch at some point post-release.

“When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily,” Wilson explained.

We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls.”

It’s not particularly great news for those that were looking forward to getting their PVP on in Diablo III, but I can’t imagine that too many people will be complaining if it means that we’re that much closer to finally getting our hands on the finished product.

Now, then. About that release date, Blizzard..