Blizzard Cancels BlizzConline To Focus On "Supporting Teams", Announcements Still Planned

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges.

I’m not really sure how much of a surprise this is going to be to readers considering everything that’s been happening with Blizzard over the last several months, but the company announced today that it will not be hosting BlizzConline in February. According to the announcement, putting together a convention – even a virtual one – is “an entire-company effort”, and at this time they feel they would be better off putting that energy into other areas, like “supporting [their] teams and progressing development of [their] games and experiences.”

While they don’t explicitly state it, it’s very likely that the current legal issues plaguing the company aren’t exactly conducive to getting employees on board with all the extra work that goes into creating a convention. Especially since several of the actions requested by employees to address these issues have not been implemented.

The post does go on to state that the company wants to take time to “reimagine what a BlizzCon event of the future could look like”. This is probably the case for a lot of companies who have discovered over the past year or so that virtual cons can work and provide extra accessibility to those who might not otherwise be able to attend. They do note that among their goals for future BlizzCon events is that they feel safe, welcoming, and inclusive.

Finally, for those of you who might be concerned this means no announcements, don’t worry. Blizzard still plans to make announcements about their games and states that they have plenty of exciting news on the way.