After three years of no in-person event, BlizzCon aims to return in 2023. In an interview with Los Angeles Times Published today, Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard, stated that the company is actively working on bringing the live event back for next year under the leadership of April McKee, who joined Blizzard last February after more than 20 years at Microsoft.
“We previously announced that we are pausing BlizzCon as we reimagine it for the future but want to return to a live event where we can celebrate the community,” Ybarra said. “We are committed to bringing BlizzCon back in 2023.”
From 2005 to 2019, BlizzCon was an annual Blizzard-hosted fan conference, typically featuring new game announcements, previews, or other types of programming geared around the company’s game library. In 2020, the in-person event has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a virtual celebration online. The following year, Blizzard halted the event again due to the pandemic.
Blizzard initially planned for this year’s BlizzCon online event, but in late 2021, the company announced that the event had been cancelled. At the time, Blizzard stated that the event would be “reimagined” for the future – a sentiment Ybarra echoed in his interview.
The cancellation came months after multiple lawsuits were filed against parent company Activision Blizzard, one of which claimed Both sexism and sexual harassment occurred in Blizzard. However, the company has not explicitly stated that there is a link between the lawsuits and the event’s cancellation.
Recently, Blizzard has faced scrutiny of its implementation of microtransactions in Diablo Immortal. A few weeks after its release, the game was reported to exist Generated $24 million in microtransaction revenue lonliness.
“Infuriatingly humble music trailblazer. Gamer. Food enthusiast. Beeraholic. Zombie guru.”
More Stories
A judge ruled in favor of Sony in a $500 million lawsuit related to its controller communications
Twitch prohibits playing video games on intimate body parts
Big change at Nintendo's testing center ahead of Switch 2