Blizzard Entertainment’s annual BlizzCon event is the latest to suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic. The company announced that BlizzCon 2020 was canceled following health concerns. Executive producer Saralyn Smith stated that, “We’re feeling deeply disappointed about this decision, and imagine many of you will feel the same.
“I truly love BlizzCon, and I know that’s a sentiment shared by everyone at Blizzard. We will sorely miss connecting with so many of you at the convention and ‘recharging our geek batteries’ this fall.”
That being said, Blizzard is looking into ways to connect with fans online. Though it wants to have something like this as soon as possible, it’s being described as “new-ish territory” with many “different factors” involved. If such an event were to occur, then it would likely be sometime in early 2021. The company is also looking into alternatives for some of the esports competitions that are usually hosted at BlizzCon annually.
BlizzCon is noteworthy for offering major updates on upcoming titles from the company and is anticipated all year round. With Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 being announced at last year’s show, we’ll likely see the company offering new gameplay reveals and updates through other avenues. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime especially with digital events like IGN’s Summer of Gaming and the Summer Game Fest taking place.