Desperate Diablo Fans Order at KFC Despite Regional Blockade to Access Beta
A promotion at KFC guarantees participation in Diablo 4 beta, but only in the US. Borders, however, are not enough to stop fans of the game. Many Internet users declare that they ordered food from the other side of the world, just to get the code.
Premiere of Diablo IV won't take place until June 6, 2023, but the hype surrounding the game is growing even now, as in 3 days the first beta-testing phase of the game will start (the next one will already be open to everyone). It is primarily intended for players who have pre-ordered the title. An additional opportunity to join the tests was offered by the US branch of KFC as part of its latest promotion. Now the whole world is trying to take advantage of it.
When and on which platforms will the Diablo IV open beta take place?
From March 24 (5 p.m. CET) to March 27 (8 p.m. CET).
Those with early access will be able to start playing a week earlier - March 17 (5 p.m. CET) - and play until March 20 (9 p.m. CET).
Diablo IV will be available to test on all target platforms, namely PC, PS4, PS5, XOne and XSX/S.
The fruit of cooperation between KFC and Blizzard
As part of the KFC Early Access Open Beta, restaurant's customers who purchased a Double Down sandwich receive a unique code, guaranteeing access to the beta version of Diablo IV in the first batch, which is March 17-19, 2023.
The innocent deal has caused quite a stir online, as it is only available in the United States. Fans of the brand outside the US are unable to take advantage of it. At least officially.
Restrictions that unite players
Saddened by the exclusion from the deal, gamers from all over the world are reluctant to let the extra chance to take part in the beta testing of Diablo IV slip away.
Some of them decided to try their luck on Reddit, where you can find numerous comments and even posts with requests addressed to US residents for a code guaranteeing access to the game.
In parallel, on the same website, you can find posts by American users, sympathetic to colleagues from other parts of the world, who have published additional codes out of good will.
Attempts to take advantage of the deal outside the US
As it happens on the Internet, dedicated fans anticipating Diablo IV but not residing in the United States, have also looked for other ways to gain coveted access to the game's beta on their own.
Under the most popular method some users report that they using location-shifting VPNs, they were able to order sandwiches at KFC in the States and receive an email with a code guaranteeing access to the beta.
"I'm in Australia and simply fired up a free VPN, went to the KFC website in the US and ordered a chicken little sandwich for pickup a few hours later, thus giving enough time for the code to be sent. I paid $2.59 at KFC in Alabama.
Instead of a name in the order, I simply put "Pass it on" in the hope that they would actually give the sandwich to someone else. I paid using Google Pay, which comes with my Australian bank card, and the code arrived in my email within an hour. Not bad for the cost of about $4 Australian dollars," wrote user ConorOdin.
According to reports from many users, however, this method is not 100% effective.
Some players report that the need to enter a postal code, the length of which varies from country to country, makes it impossible to place an order. Others have been helped by adding zeros to the end of their real postal code, but this is not a method that works in every case.
Another complication, which for some reason only affects some non-American players, is that the code from KFC is linked only to US game servers. However, some Internet users were able to redeem the code on the servers appropriate for their residence.
Resonable attempt or too much trouble?
Among the commenters focused on getting access to the game, there were also Diablo fans, who look unfavorably on attempts to bypass the limitations of the KFC deal.
Some of them stress that the same effect can be achieved by pre-ordering the game and returning it after taking part in the beta tests.
Many users also believe that, despite the earnest intentions of avid gamers, their international ordering will lead to a huge amount of food being wasted.
Neither Blizzard nor KFC have addressed the deal's restrictions or the confusion caused by attempts to circumvent them. Do you think the behavior of Internet users is justified?
