Blizzard has announced that Sydney-based servers have been deployed to accommodate players in Australia and New Zealand in conjunction with the global launch of the publisher’s Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls expansion on 25 March.
“We’ve listened to community feedback and set a goal of improving the game experience for Diablo players in Australia and New Zealand,” said Blizzard COO Paul Sams. “By deploying local game servers to the region in time for the release of Reaper of Souls, we aim to make slaying demons more fun—for the heroes, at least.”
Players hosting games from Australia and New Zealand will be connected via a Diablo 3 data centre in Australia, with AU/NZ players also interacting with North American players via the Sydney-based servers. Games hosted by North American players will be played on US servers however, even with participating gamers from outside of North America.
The publisher has yet to implement dedicated servers in the AU/NZ region for other popular Blizzard titles, such as StarCraft and World of Warcraft.
“Blizzard Entertainment is committed to providing our players around the world with the best possible experiences,” said Blizzard in a statement. “We will continue to explore optimal server solutions for all of our franchises in each region.”
