Blizzard has decided to cancel this year’s BlizzCon. The company states the event will return in the future, but it plans to showcase upcoming games in a different manner over the coming months. 

First announced in a blog post, Blizzard plans to share details on upcoming games like World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred expansion at other trade shows, such as Gamescom. The company also plans to launch “multiple, global, in-person events” for Warcraft’s 30th anniversary, which are described as being “distinct” from BlizzCon. 

“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,” Blizzard states in the blog post.

A Blizzard representative tells Windows Central that Blizzard made the call to cancel BlizzCon and not Microsoft, which completed its acquisition of the company last year. In a statement to the outlet, the representative says, “This is a Blizzard decision. We have explored different event formats in the past, and this isn't the first time we're skipping BlizzCon or trying something new. While we have great things to share in 2024, the timing just doesn’t line up for one single event at the end of the year.”

BlizzCon began in 2005 as an annual convention celebrating all things Blizzard. Last year's show saw the reveal of World of Warcraft’s next expansion, The War Within, as well as two other expansions coming after it. It's good that event is only taking a year off as opposed to being canned for good, and we're curious to see how the alternative events shape up over the coming months.