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Change of strategy at Blizzard Entertainment: Instead of the Blizzcon in-house exhibition, new products will be presented (again) at Gamescom.
Up until 2018, Blizzard Entertainment was one of the largest stand operators at Gamescom – with elaborately designed themed areas for World of WarCraft, Diablo and Hearthstone, a huge show stage with concerts and tournaments as well as hundreds of gaming stations. In 2019, the temporary emergency brake came in the form of a cancellation – with the exception of a fan article shop in the merchandise area. In 2023, the US game manufacturer finally came up with one Diablo 4-Foto-Station as a subtenant at Microsoft – the company that took over Activision-Blizzard six weeks later.
For Gamescom 2024 (August 21st to 25th), there is a good chance that Blizzard Entertainment will once again come out with a lot of silverware: because the (renewed) cancellation of the US in-house trade fair Blizzcon links the studio with the announcement, “some exciting plans for other trade fairs and conventions like Gamescom soon” wanting to share. The company does not go into further detail.
There should be no shortage of topics: For 2024, Blizzard is planning, among other things, to release expansions for the indestructible long-running online role-playing game World of WarCraft ('The War Within') and the action role-playing game Diablo 4 (Vessel of Hatred). There are also a number of anniversaries coming up: World of WarCraft turns 20 years old – the brand WarCraft was launched in 1994 with Orcs & Humans and is therefore celebrating its 30th birthday.
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It is not yet known which exhibitors will be taking part in Gamescom 2024 (continuously updated overview). At the moment there is only one rejection from Nintendo – other console manufacturers and publishers have not yet (officially) commented on whether they will generally be represented at the Cologne exhibition center at the end of August.
Gamescom 2024 will kick off on August 20th with the opening show Gamescom Opening Night Live, before trade fair operations start on the following Wednesday. Advance ticket sales started in March.
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