Blizzard has revealed it will not be internet hosting its annual BlizzCon fan conference in 2024, however says the long-running occasion – first seen in 2005 – could return “in future years”.
BlizzCon has, in fact, had a little bit of a bumpy trip in current instances, taking an prolonged hiatus as Blizzard navigated well being and security issues stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and reckoned with disturbing allegations in a State of California lawsuit accusing it of being a “breeding floor for harassment and discrimination towards girls”. Blizzard skipped BlizzCon totally in 2020, switched to a digital-only format in 2021, then scrapped a deliberate digital occasion in 2022, making final yr’s BlizzCon the first in-person occasion since 2019. As such, it is maybe shocking to see the writer step away from the occasion once more so quickly.
Blizzard introduced the cancellation of this yr’s BlizzCon in a assertion shared on its web site, writing, “After cautious consideration over the past yr, we at Blizzard have made the choice to not maintain BlizzCon in 2024. This resolution was not made flippantly as BlizzCon stays a really particular occasion for all of us, and we all know a lot of you sit up for it.”
“Whereas we’re approaching this yr otherwise,” the writer continued, “and as we’ve got explored totally different occasion codecs up to now, relaxation assured that we’re simply as excited as ever to deliver BlizzCon again in future years.”
Whereas Blizzard supplied no clarification for this yr’s cancellation, it did stress it’s going to nonetheless be lively in 2024, with bulletins for World of Warcraft: The Warfare Inside and Diablo 4’s first enlargement, Vessel of Hatred, due “over the subsequent few months”. Moreover, it says it has some “thrilling plans” for Gamescom and “different business tradeshows”, and shall be holding “a number of, international, in-person occasions to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of Warcraft” – which is maybe the place it is determined to blow its occasions finances this yr.
“Our hope,” the writer concluded, “is that these experiences – alongside a number of live-streamed business occasions the place we’ll hold you updated with what’s taking place in our sport universes – will seize the essence of what makes the Blizzard group so particular.”
