If you were looking for a reason to be disappointed, then we’d like to inform you that BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled. In a post on its website, Blizzard announced that after careful consideration, they had come to the decision that canceling the event was the best course of action for the company. Thankfully, the decision isn’t a permanent one and the Blizzard event cancellation should be a temporary issue until things fall into place for them in upcoming years. While the company chalked out some of its plans for the year and how it plans to move forward, no clear explanation for BlizzCon 2024’s cancellation was provided.
It’s not hard to guess at some of the reasons behind the decision, with the major layoffs earlier this year probably having played a role in the decision.
BlizzCon 2024 Canceled—Put Your Cosplays Away Everyone
Gamers who have been waiting for a BlizzCon 2024 update were left disappointed when the annual fan convention was canceled all while they’d been eagerly waiting for a fixed date for the event. The convention was first held in October 2005 and soon turned into an annual celebration with the exception of a few years in between when it had to be put on hold due to various circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted our lives in many ways, and the cancellation of BlizzCon was inevitable given the conditions that ruled us back then. When it attempted to come back in 2022, the company had other legal battles to confront, leading to another shutdown. The convention eventually came back in 2023 to great fanfare but it seems it’ll have to be put to rest for another year.
The BlizzCon convention provided a great opportunity for cosplayers to bring out their best builds and gamers were allowed to try their hand at various releases for the first time. The main attractions were always the big announcements by the gaming studio, but the community elements of the convention acted as the main crowd-pullers, giving thousands of fans something to look forward to.
The biggest downside to no #Blizzcon in 2024 is it serves as a great community event. I went in 2017 and the most memorable moments for me were meeting and gaming with other Blizzard fans and the eSports. It would have been just as impactful even if nothing new was announced. pic.twitter.com/rIUXOhluFC
— MickCraft (@MickCraftGaming) April 25, 2024
BlizzCon 2024 got cancelled and fans are obviously not happy about it 😭 Can we still expect anything new from Blizzard at all this year?! pic.twitter.com/HXYnDs93q5
— Good Kraken! (@GoodKrakenShow) April 30, 2024
The face of gaming events is changing in a somewhat concerning way in 2024. We have lost RTX and now Blizzcon. With pax East having very mid reviews I only hope events can come back in a big huge way pic.twitter.com/lmKRXNY8NF
— Skootish (@Skootish99) April 26, 2024
Blizzcon 2024 is cancelled.
I am optimistic that this means a rebuild of the old event team that planned and held the most epic con of all time. But I am most sad about not seeing friends again for another year. 🙁
— David Echo (@echohack) April 25, 2024
Possible Reasons for the Blizzard Event Cancellation
One of the reasons BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled likely has to do with the fact that there was a massive round of layoffs earlier this year. Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft in 2023, in a $68.7 billion deal. Microsoft then laid off 1900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees in January 2024, which was a huge blow to the gaming industry as a whole. The game developer company must still have a lot of rearranging and balancing to do considering it’s only been a few months since the big move. At a time like this, organizing the convention probably falls a little lower on their priority list.
Another reason that has been highlighted for getting BlizzCon 2024 canceled is that the company has very little to report in terms of big gaming news from its studios. While it does have two major releases planned for this year, both will take place much before the convention. The World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion is scheduled for summer this year. The Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4 is also slated for release in 2024, but again, this should happen before the convention and doesn’t provide enough material to carry the entire production of the event on its back.
Blizzard had a survival game, Odyssey, in the works, but that was canceled and the team that had spent all their energy working on it was also let go during the layoff. This leaves Overwatch 2 and Hearthstone, but it doesn’t seem reasonable to arrange the entire convention around them right about now. Considering this was meant to be Warcraft’s 30th anniversary and World of Warcraft’s 20th anniversary, many had expected Blizzard to go all out for the celebrations but it appears we’ll have to reserve the energy for a few smaller events acknowledging the big day.
What’s Next For Blizzard
Alongside the announcement of the canceled BlizzCon 2024 event, the company revealed that not all hope was lost for those still excited about the announcements this year. “To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom,” said Blizzard in its BlizzCon 2024 update. The company also made a note of the Overwatch Champions Series at two upcoming gaming events—Dreamhack Dallas, starting on May 31, and Dreamhack Stockholm, which will begin on November 22.
Blizzard also alluded to the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, stating that there would be multiple in-person events organized as well as in-game events for those who aren’t able to make it to the celebrations.
All in all, Blizzard isn’t planning on sitting still and mourning the cancellation of BlizzCon. Instead, the company is going to channel its resources into more manageable smaller-scale events, so fans should still have a chance to celebrate their favorite games one way or another.
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