No BlizzCon in 2012 - Battle.net World Championship

[lyxx]

I wonder why they release "No Blizzcon this year kids" so early ? - it's January they could wait till few months before Blizzcon. Maybe after bad news they going to announce some really REALLY good news like "D3 release date" and basically cover all negative emotion with that ;d

[Kiry]

I think this is a bummer as I've attented or watched every Blizzcon for the past 4 years. It's been a really awesome event to plan for. That and Blizzard doesn't attend E3, or PAX or other conventions. So in a way, it feels like they are removing themselves from the fans. Cost doesn't have a lot to do with it. We know they are a successful company, so are many others that have a marketing dept that handles shows. Real bummer.

[iceberg265]

People defending this crack me up...You think if the company/game was still doing well they would skip an event they have done every year for a long time now? They LOVE doing Blizzcon, or at least they used to till they started putting out inferior products.

Nothing to talk about? Please...I highly doubt mop will be out yet, plus there is D3x1, SC2 protoss campaign, Titan Teasers, they could even do previews for WoW 5.1 etc.

[Chudah]

People defending this crack me up...You think if the company/game was still doing well they would skip an event they have done every year for a long time now? They LOVE doing Blizzcon, or at least they used to till they started putting out inferior products.

Or due to the heat they got over the bigotry in last year's closing concert. I wouldn't be too quick to write that off as one of the many reasons they're not doing one this year.

[ablib]

I was wondering what they were going to do for Blizzcon this year. This answers it. There's no Blizzcon this year, because they have nothing new to announce. Due to their shifty 18 month Warcraft expansion release cycle, this year's Blizzcon would be too early to announce the next wow xpac, however Blizzcon 2013 would only be a few months before the xpac after Mists of Pandaria is released. Also, this year is obviously too early for Titan to be announced, but next year is the perfect Blizzcon for a Titan announcement. Blizzcon 2013 will be huge though, it will contain news on the much anticipated Warcraft expansion announcement (as people will be tired of the Cataclysm clone that will be Pandaria by then), Diablo expansion news, possibly Starcraft as well, and most importantly, Titan.

[Killaim]

People defending this crack me up...You think if the company/game was still doing well they would skip an event they have done every year for a long time now? They LOVE doing Blizzcon, or at least they used to till they started putting out inferior products.

Nothing to talk about? Please...I highly doubt mop will be out yet, plus there is D3x1, SC2 protoss campaign, Titan Teasers, they could even do previews for WoW 5.1 etc.

Depending on D3 and HotS release dates, it could be way too early to talk about D3x1 and LotV. And 5.1? Yeah that sounds like convention worthy.

You laugh at people defending this, I laugh at people saying that this is the premonition of Blizzard's downfall. In the end we are all laughing.

And you know what they say, laughter is the best medicine... or something.

[Deathgoose]

I have never, nor will I ever, attend BlizzCon. So it being skipped this year won't exactly affect me personally. However, I do look forward to the news that comes out of it, so I would assume that means we won't be handed heaping servings of hype from the event.

However, if the reason it is being skipped isn't because there won't be enough mind blowing news to really warrant it, but instead because of some fucking e-sports, then pardon me if I go, 'say WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

I don't watch real sports on TV, but I can at least wrap my head around the attraction to them for some. But e-sports? Really?!

[McFrotton]

kind of gutted its in asia tho and not US but meh
INB4 people saying that it backs up the conspiracy of Blizzard moving to a Asian audience

SC2 is most played in korea and always been all the best world player go play there, it is know to be their national ''sport'' now (I am serious btw)

[Williamgood]

Me thinks they are light on money.

[dope_danny]

i read it as "we wont have titan ready to show, so you've seen all our games right now" so good, they can put those resources to the games and not another 'geek is!' powerpoint presentation.

[McFrotton]

Hmmm.. so much for Titan being announced at Blizzcon 2012 then.

They already said that they would nto announce it this year anyway, so having a blizzcon in 2013 is more likely to be announced there, with the third xpac of SC2 + maybe first diablo xpac announcement and another wow xpac, Blizzcon 2013 is SO gonna worth it, imo It will be a big show.

[pinkz]

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!

well at that time, if i remember right WOW wasn't still yet quite as large yet and not much else was really new at the time for bliizard. in 2006 prior to BC release they spent money advertising and BC was promoted on one of the movie/music awards shows. also at 2005 blizzcon BC was covered.

as for now, what would be the reason for a blizzcon, there is nothing new to announce, nothing new to ask. MOP is appropriate fot the last exp....mopping up the game and ending it.

[Sanguinesun]

They'll regret this. Just wait n see.

[Magruun]

Perhaps (and this is insane thinking) they will attend E3 this year and reveal project Titan there!

[Xilurm]

Why do people assume that Titan will be announced at Blizzcon? SC2 wasn't announced at Blizzcon. DIII wasn't announced at Blizzcon. Maybe Titan won't be announced at Blizzcon too?

[Moneybagz]

Perhaps (and this is insane thinking) they will attend E3 this year and reveal project Titan there!

Perhaps..just crazy thinking here, perhaps you didn't pay attention and see there will not be any titan announcements this year. Just perhaps.

[zorg]

Clearly costs too much money to implement just like a dance studio /trollolol Seriously tho big dissapointment

[Kazlehoff]

I'd rather stay on the ship to see if the hole from the iceberg can be fixed rather than climb onto some makeshift boat made out of wardrobes and tables 0o

Frankly, if you care about wow, you should HOPE games like GW2 and SWTOR succeed.

under a monopoly, there is no innovation. everything becomes focused to making the company more and more money. they don't HAVE to care about the customer, because, really, WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO GO? that's the situation wow has right now. there are other games, but with populations and budgets so low that wow doesn't need to worry about them.

i personally hate SWTOR and wouldn't play it if wow shut down today. i do however hope that they do WELL, because competition is healthy. and, for the same reason, you should hope GW2 is successful. (i don't need to hope, i'm certain it will.)


The plan for the next Expac of Epic Fail Ripoff amalgamation (world of Pokemon Kung fu Panda Guild Wars Factions Nightfall) is already set in stone (as in, they cant change that MoP is the next expac now), but that doesn't mean blizzard cant realize how stupid some of there decisions in the past year and a half have been, and take steps to fix them.

[Unholyground]

Mists of Pandaria Releases in July 2012

[frott]

well at that time, if i remember right WOW wasn't still yet quite as large yet and not much else was really new at the time for bliizard. in 2006 prior to BC release they spent money advertising and BC was promoted on one of the movie/music awards shows. also at 2005 blizzcon BC was covered.

as for now, what would be the reason for a blizzcon, there is nothing new to announce, nothing new to ask. MOP is appropriate fot the last exp....mopping up the game and ending it.

You honestly think WoW is going to "end" any time soon?

Everquest is still around, and WoW and EQ2 "killed" EQ... with its 18th expansion released in november 2011.

What happens with MMOs, that is pretty awesome, is once they figure out that they're not going to attract new blood with the outdated engine or some new gimmick, is that they start catering to those people who love the property and start doing challenging, interesting experiments with the game - that not always work - but are always engaging.

Once wow really "dies" to the mainstream is when you'll see things like battleground map packs, solo raid content, basically anything they can throw at the game to validate an expansion. It will become a testing ground for their new/next flagship entity.

And I think that's years and years away. Look at how radical MoP is. Unfortunately most of that is to try to cater to a younger audience of these apparently "new gamers who are easily confused by things."

We haven't even seen massive server merges yet.

Heck, the delay of SC2:2 and D3 are probably because blizzard figures their only real competition is themselves.

And you know there will be a bundle "blizzard pass" that includes all mmo subscriptions in one with perks like free expansions, etc. when that happens. They're not going to let their next gen mmo completely kill off the previous one.


I will say, though, the asian themed junk in EQ1 was the signal that they're not afraid to alienate their fantasy interested audience and are going to try mixing things up a bit.

I honestly think that the lack of competition in D3 in terms of "everyone sees their own loot" will not allow it to thrive as much as D2 did. It's also something to prove that younger gamers want a D2-like game. D2 *DID* happen right on the cusp of persistent online worlds, even though all it was was a persistent character that interacted in small instanced segments. The real money marketplace has a lot riding on it in terms of how all games will work moving forward, especially their own products.


I just chalk "no blizzcon" up to the basic fact that they've got nothing they're willing to share at this point, and we don't need another MOP, SC2:2, D3 reveal. D3 would likely be launched by that time anyway, with SC2:2 / MOP in the thanksgiving / winter season.

I wouldn't be surprised if WoW has the next half-dozen expansions all plotted out and finished to varying degrees.