BlizzCon 2024 canceled without a definitive explanation, but Blizzard vows the celebration will return in the years to come
In the meantime, Blizzard plans to explore other ways to share information.
Blizzard has announced that after “careful consideration over the last year,” it will not host BlizzCon 2024 this year.
According to the company, the “decision was not made lightly,” as BlizzCon “remains a very special event” for the studio, and it knows that many people look forward to it.
“While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years,” said the firm in a statement.
“Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing more details about our launches coming later this year, including World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo 4’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred.
“To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom. We can’t wait to tell you more about those plans soon.”
Blizzard said it is also planning multiple, global, in-person events to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, which will be held in addition to the in-game celebrations across its Warcraft games throughout 2024.
“While these events are distinct from BlizzCon, we’re harnessing all of our creativity and imagination to ensure that they carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness,” said the studio.
“Our hope is that these experiences – alongside several live-streamed industry events where we’ll keep you up to date with what’s happening in our game universes – will capture the essence of what makes the Blizzard community so special.”
An annual event since 2005, BlizzCon is a fan-favorite convention and a venue for Blizzard to promote its major franchises. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blizzard skipped holding an in-person event during 2020-2022.
It returned in 2023 to the Anaheim Convention Center where the studio announced the first expansion for Diablo 4 along with Cataclysm coming to World of Warcraft Classic, three expansions called The Worldsoul Saga for World of Warcraft, a new hero called Mauga for Overwatch 2, and announced Showdown in the Badlands as the next expansion for Hearthstone.