Update: Added a Blizzcon 2012 follow-up post by Bashiok and other news.

No BlizzCon in 2012 - Battle.net World Championship
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will be coming in the months ahead.

Blizzcon 2012 Follow-up
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Yeah it's a bit disappointing because we all really do enjoy being able to 'open the doors' so to speak. But, it is an enormous effort by all employees, including our game designers and artists, not to mention customer support and quality assurance, PR, our business departments, and *hot breath on fingernails & shirt rub* Community & eSports to make a BlizzCon happen. In a year when we're working to release multiple titles (knock on wood) it makes sense to focus our efforts. Also with multiple game releases we just wonder if we'd be at a point with any of them where we'd have anything really big or new or cool to talk about.

We didn't have a BlizzCon in 2006 either, and at that time we were really strong on the idea that BlizzCon isn't really supposed to be and doesn't have to be an annual event. Of course then we have it for five straight years in a row... which obviously built some expectation.

Personally I always enjoy seeing the excitement, the rushing crowds, hearing the clicking of mice on the demo stations, and waiting in agony as the seconds countdown to an announcement and then the waves of emotion from the crowd that follow it. But thinking about our year and what we're trying to get done already without a BlizzCon, and having to think pretty hard about what we'd have to announce or demo, it just makes sense to me not to have one.

Here's to the Battle.net World Championship, it's going to be awesome, and to a bigger and better BlizzCon in 2013.

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This article was originally published in forum thread: No BlizzCon in 2013 - Battle.net World Championship in 2012 started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 310 Comments
  1. melodramocracy's Avatar
    Have they ever skipped a year before?

    Theory time!

    a) you won't be playing MoP this year, thus no reason to hype it @ a convention.
    b) the shit-storm on the forums about MoP has died down a bit, they don't want to rekindle that so soon before release.
  1. Dblbaconator's Avatar
    Well on the bad side, no Blizzcon means no new info on anything this year, which sucks. And I can't be arsed to care about anything esports, so the tournament doesn't interest me either.

    But like others have pointed out, this could be a blessing in disguise. If the fates align and we end up with D3, HotS, and MoP all this year, I'll be a happy camper. And if they did all end up releasing before when Blizzcon would have been, then we'll know it was the right decision. The only thing that really sucks about it will be that we won't get any concrete info on Titan until 2013 at the earliest.

    But if next year's Blizzcon has the next WoW expansion, LotV, maybe news of a D3 expansion, and Titan, I don't think anyone's eyes will be torn from their screens.
  1. Shrouded's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xebu View Post
    I don't know much about what's going on in the SC2 scene, but other than that this sounds about right.

    But really, who cares? Not having a BlizzCon this year will just make next year's more exciting, tbh.
    Oh, I agree. I just find their PR nonsense rather insulting - as if they expect their fans to fall for the whole "oh, we're too busy making games!" spiel. Especially considering two - or perhaps all three - of the mentioned games will already have been released by that time.
  1. Geigerton's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xebu View Post
    I don't know much about what's going on in the SC2 scene, but other than that this sounds about right.
    TotalBiscuit's TotalBiscuit Channel (not to be confused with his TotalHalibut Channel) has videos from his announcer gigs at Dreamhack and Shoutcraft SCII tournaments. It is interesting to watch.
  1. xindykawai's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lac View Post
    They can't really win on this issue. If they hold it this year, it will be much like the 2010 blizzcon where they didnt announce anything and the fans were outraged. Better to hold it off for a year and make it kick ass. Hopefully this means they are pushing MoP and D3 pretty hard at the moment.
    actually, im pretty sure it is and i hope for it !!

    kick-ass blizzcon inc in 2013 !!!
  1. Burritaco's Avatar
    Hmm, does blizzard make money off Blizzcon?
  1. The Madgod's Avatar
    * raises fists to the sky and sinks to his knees


    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

    Ah well, this'll mean I can mentally and financially prepare for whatever I hope to do in 2013.
  1. Slowpoke is a Gamer's Avatar
    S throws off everything.No Titan reveal this year.And the next expansion is slated for Q4 2013. It had to be revealed this year. Unless... Blizzcons will be earlier now. Or MoP was delayed.
  1. Eis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by melodramocracy View Post
    Have they ever skipped a year before?
    Yes. There was no 2006 Blizzcon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlizzCon

    Judging by that, we can expect maybe another xpac announcement. Since they went 2005 BC, 2007 WotLK. MAYBE!
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    It was always a hopeful man's dream to see any kind of Titan announcement before 2013, in my opinion.
  1. Kittahsmash's Avatar
    True that this says 'toward the end of 2012', but they *would* hold a Blizzcon to announce the release date of MoP if it was going to be during next holiday season, so it's pretty good evidence that MoP will be out before this event, imo. Summer release?
  1. Monoroth's Avatar
    there wont be end of the world this year weeeee we have BLizzcon next year ^^
  1. Anjerith's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dokhidamo View Post
    S throws off everything.No Titan reveal this year.And the next expansion is slated for Q4 2013. It had to be revealed this year. Unless... Blizzcons will be earlier now. Or MoP was delayed.
    The lack of a Blizzcon doesn't mean no reveal, they have actually revealed a number of recent titles outside of the event.

    I would agree that it's very unlikely of a Titan reveal in a year where they are working on three primary titles though.
  1. Aeriedk's Avatar
    Sort of sad I planned of going this year.
  1. twilightsamus's Avatar
    Why even have the tournaments, then? They've literally always been worse than other major tournaments compared to MLG/Dreamhack/et cetera, especially the WoW ones and especially when you consider how far MLG has come in the past year in running their tournaments. Online communities hold better tournaments than the ones that normally get held at BlizzCon, no joke.
  1. Anjerith's Avatar
    Anaheim is still a great place to go for all the exciting and amazing things to see and do.




    Actually it's pretty much just a convention center and Disneyland. Rest sort of sucks.
  1. Smurflord's Avatar
    Well this makes good sense to me.

    2012 is lining up to be one of Blizzard's busiest ever. 3 new product releases, Diablo III, Mist of Pandaria and Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, All of which are highly likely to be released to market before the traditional October date for Blizzcon. On top of they if they're not ready to unveil the new MMO poject to the world, then what would they really have to talk about at Blizzcon 2012? Far better to postpone to 2013 until they have some to showcase otherwise they're just wasting money and time which could go toward product.
  1. Diversion's Avatar
    So no blizzcon for an esports because all other esports sites dumped WoW? Fantastic. Should be an amazing plane crash.
  1. Geigerton's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eis View Post
    Yes. There was no 2006 Blizzcon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlizzCon

    Judging by that, we can expect maybe another xpac announcement. Since they went 2005 BC, 2007 WotLK. MAYBE!
    The faster x-pac schedule, if pulled off, makes announcing a new expansion at this Blizzcon (if one was held in 2012)... iffy. It might not go over well potentially announcing the next expansion after MOP when patch 5.1 might not even be out yet. Blizzard may not even know what they want to change yet or what works/fails of MOP that needs changed.

    Imagine Blizzard announcing CATA back when most average guilds were just beginning to farm KT in Naxx, and Maly/3D Sarth were progression still. Average, keyword, average.
  1. Strafer's Avatar
    Damn you Blizzard!

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