Following the success of the free, online Blizzard extravaganza that was BlizzConline 2021, fans have been waiting with bated breath for the announcement of this year’s main BlizzCon event. Whether or not the in-person event would take place this year has been up in the air, with the US seeing a heavy vaccine rollout and pandemic restrictions beginning to be eased across the country. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation has led to a disappointing decision. Referencing the “ongoing complexities and uncertainties of the pandemic”, Blizzard have today announced that there will be no BlizzCon 2021.
This is the second year in a row that BlizzCon has been cancelled, with the BlizzCon 2020 cancellation marking the first year since 2012 not to host a BlizzCon. As of today, only four BlizzCon cancellations have occurred – This year and last year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in 2012 due to Blizzard being busy with development of Diablo 3, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, and Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, and in 2006 due to a low turnout for the Con’s first outing in 2005.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom – with the success of BlizzConline 2021, Blizzard are planning a similar online event for early 2022. This event will feature some “small, in-person gatherings” along with an online show in the spirit of this year’s BlizzConline. If the lineup for the 2022 event is as action-packed as 2021’s show, which showed off Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Diablo 2 Resurrected and Hearthstone news. We can certainly expect to see more of Overwatch 2, currently estimated to be released some time in 2022, as well as information on new Hearthstone expansions and perhaps even the highly anticipated hack and slash RPG Diablo 4.
Whatever BlizzConline 2022 has in store for us, it’s sure to be a spectacle on the same scale as Blizzconline 2021. Hopefully they won’t get a DMCA takedown this time around.