Today Blizzard announced that their annual convention, BlizzCon, will not be held in 2024. Their statement gives no clear indication as to why, but notes that the decision was not an easy one.
“After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years.” Blizzard’s statement can be read in its entirety here.
Instead of a full blown convention to show off all the newest and biggest projects, Blizzard is going to focus on their current library and those games’ future. This includes details about upcoming expansions such as World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. Plus, there will still be an in-person event to celebrate World of Warcraft’s 30th anniversary.
BlizzCon 2023 was the first in-person convention since 2019 and despite its problems, of which there are many, it was a sign of things returning to normal after the pandemic forced the world to halt. However, Blizzard was also just recently acquired by Microsoft with a deal that took 21 months and $68.7 billion to complete. The recent layoffs from Microsoft included heavy cuts to Blizzard, which forced their hand to cancel an upcoming survival game. Whenever BlizzCon returns, it’ll be great to have people converge in foam/3D printed costumes once again. I’ll be grinding Diablo IV until then.