Citing COVID precautions as the primary reason for the change of plans, Blizzard has confirmed today that they are cancelling this year's in-person BlizzCon. Saralyn Smith, Executive Producer of BlizzCon, addressed the cancellation and mentioned plans for a hybrid event next year:
"In the meantime, we’re planning a global event for the early part of next year, combining an online show along the lines of our recent BlizzConline with smaller in-person gatherings, and we’ll share more as our plans come together."
Many have also believed what lent to this choice was the fact Blizzard already held a digital version of BlizzCon earlier that already featured several announcements of games and looks at upcoming Blizzard titles such as Overwatch 2. So an in-person event would be potentially redundant at this point. But this is not the only live gaming convention that's been halted or is preferring all-digital this year. E3 will be all-digital as well. For now, this is an indication of simply playing it safe as restrictions have begun to be lifted in response to vaccines being distributed. Hopefully, this will be one of the last pop culture events to be cancelled. Stay tuned!
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