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.

To say that the outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted everyday life would be an understatement. Between delays, shortages, isolation orders, cancellations and just the simple peril of big gatherings has made the last few months something of a blur. The gaming industry has been hit, too, with almost every major conference being canceled this year from E3 to GDC. Where does that leave BlizzCon? Well, it seems plans are still ongoing, but it could get the ax as well.

Usually, Blizzard announces the dates for their annual event around this time, but this go around, they instead issued an open note about the convention. In a nutshell, they still plan to hold the event as of now, but cite safety of both employees and fans as a possibility that the event could be canceled like many others this year. You can read the full announcement through here.

The hope for many is that the outbreak will be over within the next month or so, but it’s still largely up in the air. There’s also fear that a second wave of the virus could come when summer leaves and warmer weather moves out, which means we could see this whole mess unfold again. As Blizzard says, we’re just going to have to wait and see what it all looks like. We’ll keep you updated.