Blizzard has introduced it is not going to maintain BlizzCon, the writer’s annual fan conference, this yr. “After cautious consideration over the past yr, we at Blizzard have made the choice to not maintain BlizzCon in 2024,” Blizzard wrote on its website.
As a substitute of BlizzCon, Blizzard wrote that it might be holding different, smaller occasions all year long and talked about collaborating in different commerce reveals, akin to Gamescom. Moreover, 2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of World of Warcraft, with Blizzard stating that it’s planning “a number of, international, in-person occasions” in addition to sharing updates for WoW’s tenth growth, The Conflict Inside, and Diablo IV’s first growth, Vessel of Hatred.
Regardless of this yr’s cancellation, Blizzard says the occasion will return sooner or later: “Whereas we’re approaching this yr otherwise and as now we have explored completely different occasion codecs up to now, relaxation assured that we’re simply as excited as ever to carry BlizzCon again in future years.”
The cancelation of BlizzCon 2024 comes as one other notable online game occasion, E3, finally gave up the ghost last year and amidst a online game business grappling with unprecedented layoffs and monetary struggles. Earlier this yr, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees throughout Activision Blizzard and Xbox, one of many largest single online game business layoff occasions of the final two years.