BlizzCon is Canceled for Real

Way back in April earlier this year, which by my estimation was about five years ago, Blizzard announced that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the globe, they were still “moving forward” with Blizzcon 2020, although they did say they were closely monitoring the situation to see if those plans would have to change.

Well, a month and some change has passed, COVID-19 hasn’t miraculously disappeared, over 350,000 people have died, and Blizzard has finally realized that this just isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

So in a recent blog post, they made the news official:

A lot has changed . . . and a lot also hasn’t changed. During this time, we’ve had many discussions about what holding a convention could look like in light of all the health and safety considerations we’d want to make. We’ve also talked about different paths we could take, and how each one could be complicated by fluctuations in national and local health guidelines in the months ahead. Ultimately, after considering our options, we’ve come to the very difficult decision to not have BlizzCon this year.

We’re feeling deeply disappointed about this decision, and imagine many of you will feel the same. 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.

As an alternative to Blizzcon, the company, like many others, is considering hosting an all-digital event that would be far safer for everyone to attend, assuming you have nothing mean to say about China. However, Blizzard estimates it wouldn’t be ready until early next year, which is just as well because COVID-19 will still probably be a problem by then. They also plan to do some alternative eSports events as well, since Blizzcon is usually a popular venue for those.

Sad for fans, I’m sure, but far from unexpected.