Did Amazon leak the Diablo 3 Release Date?

With an announcement regarding the long-awaited release of Diablo 3 approaching, all of us have been on the edge of our seats waiting for more information. 

We may have gotten that announcement early.  The release date according to Amazon recently showed up as April 17th, 2012. This would mix perfectly with Blizzard's expectation that Diablo 3 will be a 'Spring release' in the second quarter of 2012. 

Curiously, Amazon removed their expected release date from the product shortly after. April 17th was originally listed as the date here, although now it just reads "2012". Interesting.

More Diablo 3 Release Date Hype from Blizzard CEO

Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, has given us more information on a possible Diablo 3 release date during a company-wide announcement. This time we have a more specific timeframe as to when we can expect a release date: "in the coming weeks"

"We're continuing to develop, iterate, and polish Blizzard DOTA, Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, as well as other, unannounced projects. We'll have exciting news to share in the coming weeks regarding Diablo III's release date, and will soon be holding a private media event to showcase the latest work on Mists of Pandaria."

The announcement itself was regarding company layoffs at Blizzard, although Morhaime noted that the job trimmings at Blizzard were focused at support staff and did not affect the development teams.

For the full announcement, check out the Blizzard Forums.