Is Blizzcon dead?

[Schizoide]

Calm down, people. Quakecon didn't die, no reason to think Blizzcon will either.

[Miffinat0r]

Calm down, people. Quakecon didn't die, no reason to think Blizzcon will either.

I will say there is this air in the forums of WoW players thinking nothing is going to change. Maybe Blizzcon continues to happen, but like I heard Asmon yesterday defending that Battlenet would continue to remain, and I'm like why is that worth fighting for? It's a launcher.

Maybe Blizzcon stays, maybe it goes. I dunno. I'd imagine they're going to fine tune it and maybe make it not as Blizzard focused.

Overall point is I just don't know where the confidence that WoW players formed during 2008-2016 that makes players think that the game is immune to changes. I think MS won't change anything with regards to how the game looks, or feels but the culture that Blizzard founded was literally built on a culture of harassment and toxicity. Not sure they're eager to see that return.

[Lahis]

I will say there is this air in the forums of WoW players thinking nothing is going to change. Maybe Blizzcon continues to happen, but like I heard Asmon yesterday defending that Battlenet would continue to remain, and I'm like why is that worth fighting for? It's a launcher.

Battle.net is way more functional and better launcher than Windows Store or the XBox app.

Battle.net is not only likely to survive, but also add bunch of Microsoft games into it.

[Hastis]

This thread isn't about COVID or the ongoing pandemic, there's a thread for that elsewhere. Let's re-focus on the topic of BlizzCon's future and leave out ruminating solely on COVID.

But pandemic has impact on blizzcon xD
Nvm, i think there wont be any blizzcon from now, they will make it some little part of other bigger Con

[Clone]

I think it will come back, but Blizzard devs don't need the ego boost.

[MoanaLisa]

I rather think that Blizzcon might go away for a while and return changed somewhat. MS doesn't mind fan outreach but Blizzard will have a lot on its plate for some months if not years ahead. I think if it goes away it will be due to the huge distraction it causes losing many hours of development time. There may be many at Blizzard who will be fine with it scaling back or disappearing altogether.

[GreenJesus]

I went to the Blizzcon in 2018 and at this point there's barely any reason for it to exist anymore. Just another opportunity for "early april fools joke" or "you think you do, but you don't" or "don't you guys have phones?". Much easier to just have a youtube video in front of a green screen and still charge $40 for online pay per view instead of paying Anaheim for the 10s of thousands of square feet for the convention center. Can also just pull some pre-selected questions instead of listening to Joe Bob list off his guild, his character name, his realm, how long he's been playing, what his raider.io score, what class they are recruiting for their guild, and what he had for breakfast that day just to ask "so is boomkin going to get a new form?"

[Miffinat0r]

I think it will come back, but Blizzard devs don't need the ego boost.

If they did something worth celebrating, sure. But how WoW is right now. No. You haven't earned anything.

[Dystemper]

It's dead. News will come out at traditional Microsoft outlets

[Dch48]

It's dead. News will come out at traditional Microsoft outlets

I think this is the most likely outcome.

[Bladesyphon]

Of course it's not dead, as others have said - Blizzard Activision being acquired by Microsoft doesn't change the fact that they can still hold their own convention, just as Bethesda can still hold Quakecon, or how companies under Microsoft's umbrella still make their own announcements and showcases at E3 outside of Microsoft's umbrella.

It IS, however, likely to remain on hiatus until the Pandemic reaches a point where it's safe enough to actually hold a convention of it's size and scope. I also won't be surprised that, when it does reopen, it's going to be at a much smaller capacity than we've seen before. But it's still going to be there, just like how E3 is probably going to also make it's return once the Pandemic is over, along with all the other cons out there. It's just not going to happen until the Pandemic is well and truly over, or as over enough that it can no longer be deemed a full pandemic.

[TheHodedOne]

Of course it is, Blizzcon as we know its dead.
Forget the pandemic or the MS buy. Blizzard is not going to risk a public event where people can ask open questions about the chaos in the company or their legal dispute with California in the sexual scandals case.
At the very much they will have a yearly online event where they will announce games or updates.

[Schizoide]

Well sure, it won't happen until COVID is endemic, that much is obvious. And I don't expect they'll have it until after the MS acquisition and Kotick is gone, when morale recovers, assuming that even happens.

[Akta]

no it's not, it brings a lot of money with the tickets, minecraft has a minecon why blizzard wouldn't still have blizzcon ?

[SNES-1990]

Blizzcon died when Beetlejuice lady hosted a group therapy session.

[Gourbaak]

most of live events were already in decline before covid, and covid finished the job for almost all of them. It has nothing to do with microsoft