Blizzard’s 2024 Showcase to Lack Spectacular Reveals

There will therefore be no BlizzCon in 2024. In a message published on April 25, Blizzard Entertainment has made it official the absence of its annual convention, which is traditionally held in Anaheim, California. The event will resume in subsequent years, however, the publisher promises. This will be the fifth time in nineteen years that the show has been canceled.

In a statement more detailed, the studio underlines the attachment it has for BlizzCon, “ an event that is very dear to us ”, and recognizes its importance to fans. The company assures that “ this decision was not taken lightly » and that it is the fruit « of long reflection during the past year. »

This withdrawal from BlizzCon can be analyzed in light of the financial transaction that Microsoft ended up concluding. Launched in January 2022, the acquisition of the Activision-Blizzard-King group for $68.7 billion was completed for good in October 2023. Since then, the new owner of Blizzard may have special plans for its subsidiary .

No major announcement on the horizon

This renunciation for the 2024 edition of BlizzCon can also be understood as a one-off weakness of the studio in its catalog. By not holding its annual meeting, the studio suggests that it is in the trough of the wave and that it will have nothing remarkable to present to the public, apart from what it already knows.

This absolutely does not mean that there will be no new Blizzard games in 2024. Among the publisher's major licenses, World of Warcraft will be entitled to The War Within at the end of the year. This will be the first chapter of a trilogy announced at the end of 2023. On the side of Diablo IVan extension is also on the way, with The Vessel of Hatred.

These two games are very big video game events, which would have their place at a BlizzCon. The fact is that these expansions have already been made official at BlizzCon 2023. We have already had a lot of details, especially on The War Within. In addition, the roadmaps of WoW and of D4 for 2024 have been established.

If we take these two titles out of the equation, what remains (especially since for WoWthe path is already clear, we know at least the name of the two following extensions, with Midnight And The Last Titan) to do the show ?

The project for a new survival game, based on a new license and announced in 2022, was finally canceled in January 2024. We never had too much news about it. This abandonment is mechanically also a loss for BlizzCon, which could have devoted a large part of its time to it.

For Overwatch, the title has lost its luster. Its “successor” was released in August 2023. In the process, it abandoned one of its big promises, the PvE mode, which had nevertheless aroused a lot of interest. The recent abandonment of PvE suggests that the studio will not necessarily have time to turn around and offer something substantial by then.

As for the other licenses, they do not seem to have the aura of a WoW or a Diablo IV to hold the top of the bill — whether it is Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble, Diablo Immortal, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III, Diablo II, WoW Classic, And so on. Some are no longer actively maintained, whether D3 Or HotS.

Put together, these licenses can fill a BlizzCon and fill the schedules as well as the aisles of the convention. But Blizzard needs to have a central event at the heart of its show. And StarCraft III SO ? The title has been the subject of recurring rumors for years. Without BlizzCon, StarCraft III will therefore remain at the hypothesis stage.

Finally, there is an internal factor: the studio was marked at the start of the year by a significant wave of layoffs, which followed the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King. 1,900 employees were affected by this staff reduction. Therefore, it is more difficult in these conditions to organize a big annual gathering to celebrate Blizzard games.