Nicole Carpenter
is a senior reporter specializing in investigative features about labor issues in the game industry, as well as the business and culture of games.
Blizzard Entertainment has canceled this year’s fan convention BlizzCon, which was expected to be held in Anaheim, California in November. The company, which is now owned by Microsoft, announced the cancelation on Thursday, but promised to bring the event back “in future years.”
“After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024,” Blizzard posted to its website. “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.”
Instead, Blizzard expects to announce details about its upcoming slate of games — like World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion — later this year, on its own and at “other industry trade shows” like Gamescom, which is scheduled for Aug. 21 to Aug. 24 in Cologne, Germany. Overwatch 2 esports are still on the schedule for Dreamhack Dallas and Dreamhack Stockholm, Blizzard wrote, while in-person World of Warcraft events will be hosted for the game’s 30th anniversary. “While these events are distinct from BlizzCon, we’re harnessing all of our creativity and imagination to ensure that they carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness,” Blizzard said.
This year’s BlizzCon was expected to mark the second year in a row that the event would be held in-person after it was canceled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The show went digital in 2021, and was canceled again in 2022. BlizzCon 2024 would also have been the first event since Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard was finalized. That deal took 21 months to complete. Months later, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers across its gaming divisions, which included heavy cuts to Activision Blizzard.
BlizzCon is typically Blizzard’s big, barn-burner event where the company announces its biggest games and updates. Blizzard does have the aforementioned World of Warcraft and Diablo 4 expansions this year, but there may not be a whole lot else after the developer’s untitled survival game was canceled alongside the layoffs. The survival game was announced in 2022 as “a vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored” — and the studio’s first new franchise since Overwatch in 2016. The game was reportedly in development for six years before its cancelation, according to Bloomberg. Overwatch 2’s planned story mode, Hero Missions, was also canceled last year, with its Story Missions reportedly in jeopardy, too. That may leave little else to headline a show.
Blizzard fans are, understandably, upset about the event’s cancelation. Beyond new game announcements, BlizzCon has also been a rare place for players — some of whom have played online together for years — to meet and gather.
Source: Polygon
