Blizzard delays Diablo 3 real-money auction house release

In light of technical difficulties experienced during the launch of Diablo 3, Blizzard has decided to delay the launch of the real-money auction house.

In a post on the EU Battle.net Blizzard's community manager Bashiok relayed an apology to fans along with the news that Blizzard decided to move the target launch beyond the original estimated date of May 22.

The Diablo 3 auction house does still function, although you can only use in-game gold to make purchases.  Bashiok didn't say what the new target date was, but did say they'll post further updates in the "near future".

Diablo 3 has gotten off to a rough start since its Tuesday launch.  Much of the launch day was plagued with server issues making the game unplayable for many.  Following that were reports that the game's Achievements were being wiped or, at times, not event earned properly.  While the server problem looks to have been fixed, Blizzard is continuing to investigate the Achievement issue.