Written by Metal Messiah
Just a few weeks ago Saralyn Smith, Executive Producer of BlizzCon, warned Blizzard fans that BlizzCon 2020 “might not happen” with the current ongoing COVID-19 situation in the world.
Now Blizzard’s annual fan conference is officially cancelled. This popular yearly event that typically occurs in early November that celebrates the past, present and future Blizzard games and culture with multiple competitions, has been cancelled. The decision was made in light of the health and safety guidelines due to the ongoing “coronavirus” pandemic.
“Ultimately, after considering our options, we’ve come to the very difficult decision to not have BlizzCon this year,” says Saralyn Smith, Executive Producer of BlizzCon, via a recent blog post.
However, it was noted in the blog post that some form of online event or presence that “might be able to channel the BlizzCon spirit and connect with you,” is in the works with a preliminary timeline of early next year.
BlizzCon is just one of many video game conventions that have been canceled this year as a result of the pandemic. QuakeCon , Gamescom, and Tokyo Game Show have all been canceled, too. The biggest gaming event of the season, E3, was canceled back in early March. Some shows have decided to go virtual instead.
BlizzCon executive producer Saralyn Smith discussed that she and the company heads behind the event have had “many discussions” about whether to host the event or not, and finally came to the conclusion of cancelling the event.
“We’re feeling deeply disappointed about this decision, and imagine many of you will feel the same,” Smith said in the statement. “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.”
Despite this, Smith assures fans that “we will meet again” and that they are still exploring other avenues on how to connect better with players in the coming months in a manner that maintains everyone’s health and safety.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic (also known as COVID-19 officially, or Chinese Flu) has affected everyone worldwide, from businesses to public gatherings and events. This includes postponements of GDC, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the physical events for EVO 2020 and Tokyo Game Show 2020, and cancellations E3 2020 (including digital events), the physical event for Gamescom 2020, Comiket 98, and MAGStock 2020.
Blizzcon won’t be held at the “Anaheim Convention” Center in California for the first time in 8 years.
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“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic”
is it? I think its kinda winding down lately.
LOL
no?
NOPE. Each day new fresh case of infection and deaths are being reported worldwide, and not just the US or china.
Check the legit “trackers” which are posted on the web.
Sorry for the typo error !
i thought it was about “flattening the curve” not having no cases at all.
The issue is that since people are asymptomatic for up to two weeks you may not know for sure where you’re at until it’s too late.
It’s overall trending down in the USA, cant speak for the rest of the world. (Google: Daily tracker coronavirus statistics USA)
What makes it difficult to nail down is the testing was lower at the beginning, then a huge boom in testing which obviously will report more cases, and now we have all the testing while the numbers are trending down.
Also lumping in the major cities with the rest of the country, they skew everything for the entire nation no matter what issue or study.
More states are opening up slowly too.
I suspect it will take years of research to get to the bottom of the real numbers, cause and effects, which policies actually worked best for each type of societal groups/geographies.
like half the cases in us are in new york this is cuomo’s problem.
We have been spared the worst here in Ohio because our governor acted quickly. But now that we’re “opening up” I’m worried it could get bad. I drove by the lake park yesterday and it was absolutely packed with people. And I saw all sorts of big family get togethers last weekend in my neighborhood. I really hope things are okay and maybe the weather will help a bit. But with all these get-togethers and so many refusing to take precautions who knows.
no, not even close.
Indeed.
Give it two weeks. All the people who spent time with extended family for Memorial Day weekend need time to incubate.
i think blizzard is quiet happy because they have nothing to be announced.
I will dislike anything you say from now on because anyone who plays dark souls or likes dark souls or likes games with dark souls low iq shetty combat mechanic is a f4ggot.
Here, have a dislike on me.
wow you are so tough on people, take it easy.
But Dark Souls is the highest IQ game since Dynasty Warriors.
lol nice one
Zzzzz
Go find a clue.
who cares? not like they have anything good to announce.
Aww, thanks CCP and WHO
no this is drumpf’s fault china and the who didnt do nuthin.
source: the media
Oh there is plenty of blame to go around.
One less opportunity to alienate their fanbase. They should be grateful.
blizzard is irrelevant, only ching chongs care and autistic lonely nerds.
I REALLY hope they will do it online instead.
Blizzcon is something I look forward to every year, it’s an exciting event, even tho the last 2 were just bad and one a disaster.
Blizzard is dead, they just don’t know it yet.
This isn’t a big loss because fans are being treated like crap by Blizzard recently, and it is an insult what is happening to Diablo 4. The fact that Diablo 4 is having an always-online connection is ridiculous.
Errrr doesn’t Diablo 3 already do that basically? I know it did at launch.
It caused a lot of problems on PC for players.
Oh I remember. Most people couldn’t even play because of server problems, everyone was furious. Plus there was the awful auction house.
Blizzard is going in some wrong directions lately, and I hope they find a clue soon. Every Diablo game deserves to have an online and offline mode after what happened in Diablo 3 on PC.
Yeah. Diablo III just didn’t interest me much at all. And I adored Overwatch for a while, but the whole Hong Kong thing and the lack of decent events and mediocre content and inability to properly balance the game… just sucked out all my enthusiasm.
What a loss………………………….