That’s right, Blizzard is joining a slew of other companies who have chosen to substitute their in-person conventions for the virtual front. The official confirmation for virtual BlizzCon came from Activision Blizzard’s recent fiscal earnings call.
Originally, the company held out hope that they may still be able to host their convention this fall. However, frequent fluctuations in both national and local health guidelines as the coronavirus rages on have made that almost impossible. Thus, the difficult decision was made to cancel the convention and move it onto the virtual platform in early 2021.
Earlier this year, BlizzCon executive producer Saralyn Smith had suggested that BlizzCon may inevitably move to a virtual format. At the time, Activision Blizzard had yet to make a formal decision on the matter. Smith braced fans for the possibility of this shift by writing:
“We’re talking about how we might be able to channel the BlizzCon spirit and connect with you in some way online, far less impacted by the state of health and safety protocols for mass in-person gatherings. We’d want to do this as soon as we could, but given that this is new-ish territory and the different factors involved, it will most likely be sometime early next year.”
So far, the fact that the convention is going virtual is all of the information we have. Activision Blizzard has promised to reveal more details as their plans develop. Hopefully, the virtual version of BlizzCon will give us some new insight into “Diablo 4.” I don’t know how much longer I can wait to hear about it. In the meantime, we will have to wait and see exactly how the company intends to bring that BlizzCon feel to us across the internet. It’s not ideal but it is definitely better than no convention at all.
