Four years after its last edition, BlizzCon will be back in 2023 as a live event. Mike Ybarra, the new President of Activision Blizzard, wants to bring back the iconic event at the Anaheim Convention Center next year, after the turmoil of the past years.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to all physical events, BlizzCon included. The show was back in 2021 but as a virtual event, where Blizzard unveiled Diablo II: Resurrected The Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft Classic, as well as details about Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal.
BlizzCon was supposed to come back better than ever in 2022, once the pandemic allowed for physical events once again. But things didn’t go as planned for Activision Blizzard. Several allegations of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination at the company emerged, leading to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing against Blizzard. This was definitely not the right time to host a BlizzCon, so the company canceled the 2022 edition.
“We previously announced we’re taking a pause on BlizzCon while we reimagine it for the future but do want to return to a live event that enables us to celebrate the community,” Ybarra says. “We recently hired a new leader of BlizzCon, April McKee, who is hard at work on that plan. … We are committed to bringing back BlizzCon in 2023.”
What to expect from BlizzCon 2023
As Blizzard is taking a new direction with hopefully better treatment for its female employees, BlizzCon will be back in 2023. BlizzCon 2023 will be the perfect occasion to reveal more about Diablo 4, which is set to release that year. The company may announce a new hero or map for Overwatch 2 and share more information about the future updates of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and World of Warcraft Classic.
Blizzard could also unveil more information about its upcoming survival game, which is still unannounced. This project was revealed in 2022 but we don’t know much about it yet. Blizzard describes the game as “a place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored.”
