BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled and the big question now is whether it’s coming back, or if the event is gone forever.
Blizzard has had a brutal decade in terms of its reputation and relationship with fans. For millennials who were around for the golden years of Diablo 2, StarCraft: Brood War, and the early days of World of Warcraft, Blizzard was one of the most beloved companies in gaming. Since then, the steady stream of bad publicity overwrites all that with younger audiences.
Harsh punishments for expressing a favorable opinion of democracy, regular reports about a toxic work environment, and sweeping layoffs hurt the image of its brand. Meanwhile, over-promising and under-delivering on games like Warcraft 3: Reforged and repeated cases of bait-and-switching Overwatch 2 players out of money have eroded players’ trust.
The publisher relived its PR heyday once a year with BlizzCon, an expo that puts the publisher front-and-center in front of fans loyal enough to pay their way in. That might be a thing of the past for the newly minted Xbox Game Studios subsidiary.
Is BlizzCon 2024 happening?
BlizzCon 2024 was officially canceled by Blizzard on April 25.
“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,” Blizzard said in a statement on its website.
The company stated that it intends to maintain a presence at other gaming events, specifically citing Gamescom 2024 as a landing spot. Though Cataclysm will have arrived in WoW Classic by that point, Blizzard cited the World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred as releases that will be showcased. It also pointed to its partnership with controversial esports tournament organizer ESL for those wondering about competitions related to Overwatch 2 and StarCraft 2.
Is BlizzCon ever coming back?
Blizzard states that BlizzCon will come back at some point, even though 2024’s event is canceled.
Whether this will actually happen is another matter. The cancelation conspicuously comes after layoffs across Activision Blizzard and at a time when gaming expos are shutting down.
Running profitable expos is historically difficult and Microsoft is slashing costs while heavily restructuring its gaming division. Alongside this, now that Blizzard is a Microsoft subsidiary, any major announcements could instead be funneled into Xbox Games Showcases or its presence at other gaming events.
All fans can do when it comes to BlizzCon coming back is wait and keep their fingers crossed until 2025.
