Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that BlizzCon 2020 will not go ahead owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BlizzCon is an annual fan convention at which Blizzard usually makes its biggest announcements and hosts its largest esports competitions. In a post on its official blog, Blizzard stated that it had “come to the very difficult decision to not have BlizzCon this year.” All is not lost, however — the company states that it still intends to “channel the BlizzCon spirit” by taking the show online.
Don’t expect an online event to replace the show date-and-date, however. Blizzard says that any BlizzCon alternative will “likely be sometime early next year,” moving the show into 2021.
BlizzCon is the latest in a string of games events affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows GDC, E3 and Gamescom into limbo.
The show has had its ups and downs over the years. In 2018, Blizzard received massive fan blowback over the announcement of Diablo Immortal, a version of the beloved action RPG for mobile devices. In 2019, it announced Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands at the show. All of these announcements came amid a scandal involving popular Hearthstone player Blitzchung, banned for supporting freedom fighters in Hong Kong.
Here in Australia, we wait to hear the fate of PAX Aus. At the time of writing, that show (which Blizzard usually attends) is still going ahead in October.
