Blizzard Cancels Blizzcon

erek

erek

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"Over the next few months, we'll be sharing more details about our launches coming later this year, including World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom. We can't wait to tell you more about those plans soon. We're also looking forward to the Overwatch Champions Series' stops at both Dreamhack Dallas and Dreamhack Stockholm. And we're thrilled to be planning multiple, global, in-person events to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, which will be held in addition to the in-game celebrations across our Warcraft games throughout 2024. While these events are distinct from BlizzCon, we're harnessing all of our creativity and imagination to ensure that they carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness."

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Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/321891/blizzard-cancels-blizzcon-2024
 

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erek said:
"Over the next few months, we'll be sharing more details about our launches coming later this year, including World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom. We can't wait to tell you more about those plans soon. We're also looking forward to the Overwatch Champions Series' stops at both Dreamhack Dallas and Dreamhack Stockholm. And we're thrilled to be planning multiple, global, in-person events to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, which will be held in addition to the in-game celebrations across our Warcraft games throughout 2024. While these events are distinct from BlizzCon, we're harnessing all of our creativity and imagination to ensure that they carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness."

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Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/321891/blizzard-cancels-blizzcon-2024
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TLDR;
We fired or lost our event planners in the Microsoft merger and we just can’t manage the PR backlash of holding a huge party after firing half the staff.
 
Even as someone who is an obsessive WoW player, this doesn't bother me at all. Blizzcon itself was only really relevant for people who already lived in the general Los Angeles area. There really weren't that many people making epic treks across the US to go there. I also prefer that they develop games at a pace that makes sense for those games as opposed to trying to rush things and announce stuff that is half-finished just so that they have stuff to talk about during a pre-scheduled event.
 
Lakados said:
TLDR;
We fired or lost our event planners in the Microsoft merger and we just can’t manage the PR backlash of holding a huge party after firing half the staff.
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Nah. 2020-2022 didn't happen, and 2023 was a pure shitfest and huge disappointment, let alone money drain. Not surprised it got cancelled this year... especially since there's nothing really exciting to show.
 
I play blizzard games and i have never been able to go to it, so i dont see any lost value to me. Rather they use the money elsewhere.

I could see the meeting though trying to argue why they even do it when even when they show off something, more people will see it via internet than at the show anyways.
 
Eulogy said:
Nah. 2020-2022 didn't happen, and 2023 was a pure shitfest and huge disappointment, let alone money drain. Not surprised it got cancelled this year... especially since there's nothing really exciting to show.
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Why was 2023 so bad? Just curious
 
erek said:
Why was 2023 so bad? Just curious
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2022 and 2023 were post covid years on all events. Pretty much every event had huge problems. 22 was a write off, 23 it was a crap shoot on how bad it was going to be.

In short, everyone forgot how to event after the pandemic, and it wasn't really till this year that I have seen like, actual organization and events working properly industry wide.
 
Armenius said:
Counter-point from former Blizzard developer Mark Kern:

https://x.com/Grummz/status/1783596667440378171
https://nitter.poast.org/Grummz/status/1783596667440378171

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Doesn't community investment nearly always "lose money"?

Not that well versed in post-warcraft III blizzard, but I always gathered that the main point of their conventions was never the direct profits, but community investment in the literal sense. Which, for an mmo and <spits> live services, would results in higher customer retention and/or recruitment.
 
Sindalis said:
2022 and 2023 were post covid years on all events. Pretty much every event had huge problems. 22 was a write off, 23 it was a crap shoot on how bad it was going to be.

In short, everyone forgot how to event after the pandemic, and it wasn't really till this year that I have seen like, actual organization and events working properly industry wide.
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can't Blizzard just post them as tax write offs?
 
DF-1 said:
i thought he made diablo 2, which was way before blizzcon.

my guess would've been the MSFT being the new owners didnt want to do it anymore.
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He left in 05. His last project at Blizzard was as a lead on WoW. The first BlizzCon was 05, though I think he was gone before then.
 
GotNoRice said:
Even as someone who is an obsessive WoW player, this doesn't bother me at all. Blizzcon itself was only really relevant for people who already lived in the general Los Angeles area. There really weren't that many people making epic treks across the US to go there. I also prefer that they develop games at a pace that makes sense for those games as opposed to trying to rush things and announce stuff that is half-finished just so that they have stuff to talk about during a pre-scheduled event.
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Blizzard went the Ubisoft route and was releasing games for the sake of releasing games. OverWatch 2 never needed to be a thing and World of Warcraft expansions are not bringing the boys to the yard. Blizzcon are for people who only play Blizzard games, and those people scare me.
erek said:
Why was 2023 so bad? Just curious
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Why you think Microsoft bought Blizzard? After the whole fiasco with California lawsuit, it brought the company down. There was the failure of Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, Warcraft expansion #10, and Heroes of the Storm basically got it's last patch last year which puts it in permanent maintenance mode. Blizzard forgot how to make good games.
 
DukenukemX said:
Why you think Microsoft bought Blizzard? After the whole fiasco with California lawsuit, it brought the company down. There was the failure of Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, Warcraft expansion #10, and Heroes of the Storm basically got it's last patch last year which puts it in permanent maintenance mode. Blizzard forgot how to make good games.
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Don't forget Diablo Immortal.
 
Starcraft(1) was legendary. Same for Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, 2004 WoW

After that? some games were "good" compared to other developers but they weren't Blizzard Good.

I am hoping that MSFT gives all the franchises (warcraft, starcraft, fallout, elder scrolls) it bought from what used to be good developers (Bethesda, Blizzard, etc) actually good developers.
 
Blizzard died to me in 2021. After the McCree scandal they just went nuts with the political correctness which led to them going super woke and banning online players for the stupidest reasons. Not saying firing him and whoever else was involved wasn't deserved, but holy crap did they let it re-work their entire company in the worst way. I know there's a lot more BTS stuff I don't know or remember, but that is definitely the year they went to shit. Overwatch 1 was the perfect competitive shooter and they cancelled it just so they could add more maps and MTX for us to buy, literally the ONLY reason they killed the game. I hope they rot.
 
HeavensCloud said:
Blizzard died to me in 2021. After the McCree scandal they just went nuts with the political correctness which led to them going super woke and banning online players for the stupidest reasons. Not saying firing him and whoever else was involved wasn't deserved, but holy crap did they let it re-work their entire company in the worst way. I know there's a lot more BTS stuff I don't know or remember, but that is definitely the year they went to shit. Overwatch 1 was the perfect competitive shooter and they cancelled it just so they could add more maps and MTX for us to buy, literally the ONLY reason they killed the game. I hope they rot.
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I know it is sad. Although I'm still undecided on wether or not Overwatch is changed for the better or worse. It is still free and having one tank is different in a sense that on smaller maps I like the one tank but on larger maps 2 tanks were better so it's a mixed bag for me. All I care about is that the game is completely free and the only things monetized are cosmetic items. Core gameplay and all heroes are completely free and that is a very nice quality it has in a world of all the bullshit monetization all other shooters have in comparison. The grass isn't greener on the other side for me. Overwatch is still the best team hero shooter imo because of It's variety of heroes and play style that no other game has while being completely free
 
HeavensCloud said:
Blizzard died to me in 2021. After the McCree scandal they just went nuts with the political correctness which led to them going super woke and banning online players for the stupidest reasons. Not saying firing him and whoever else was involved wasn't deserved, but holy crap did they let it re-work their entire company in the worst way. I know there's a lot more BTS stuff I don't know or remember, but that is definitely the year they went to shit. Overwatch 1 was the perfect competitive shooter and they cancelled it just so they could add more maps and MTX for us to buy, literally the ONLY reason they killed the game. I hope they rot.
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Me and the entire rest of my guild quit the game after hearing about all the sexual harassment bullshit coming out of Blizzard, especially with the female employee that committed suicide because of it. And then all of it being swept under the rug with hush money payouts. People and corporations shouldn't be able to buy their way out of punishment.
 
Always so surprised how much of a fan base blizzard has. Let's be honest, they have made shit games for roughly a decade now if not more. I say that coming as a blizzard fan from back in the day. Starcraft 1/2, Diablo 1/2, Warcraft 3, and OG WoW were it's golden years....Although I wasn't a WoW player (played Lineage 2 instead). I spent so many hours in Starcraft 2, and especially Warcraft 3 (Mostly playing the Dota custom map).

When you look at post WoW release, they literally had nothing but hot garbage. Diablo 3 was extremely mediocre, heartstone is like an inferior Yu-gi-oh, as it had no interrupts and was all about turn vs turn play (MTG is king though for TCG). Overwatch is literally Team Fortress, followed by the disastrous Diablo Immortal and 4 P2W garbage. There is no originality left, the company has been milking WoW for nearly 2 decades, and have released nothing of substance. A perfect storm of what happens when a company is so beholden to their shareholders along with cashing in on their reputation. Sad to see, but they reaped what they sowed.
 
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KazeoHin said:
As soon as they were bought by Activision, only fools kept having faith in them.
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Technically, they were never bought by Activision. Vivendi bought Blizzard in 98. When Vivendi bought Activision in 08, they merged it with their games division that contained Blizzard and renamed it to Activision Blizzard. For years, both entities ran independently. Every WoW expansion from Lich King onwards was released after the merger, along with the entire Starcraft 2 trilogy. Blizzard's major issues really didn't happen until around the time of D3 and, later, Hearthstone, 4-6 years after the merger. Activision still shares blame for Blizzard's downfall, but let's not pretend they went to shit the moment the merger happened.
 
Derangel said:
Technically, they were never bought by Activision. Vivendi bought Blizzard in 98. When Vivendi bought Activision in 08, they merged it with their games division that contained Blizzard and renamed it to Activision Blizzard. For years, both entities ran independently. Every WoW expansion from Lich King onwards was released after the merger, along with the entire Starcraft 2 trilogy. Blizzard's major issues really didn't happen until around the time of D3 and, later, Hearthstone, 4-6 years after the merger. Activision still shares blame for Blizzard's downfall, but let's not pretend they went to shit the moment the merger happened.
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Thank you for the correction.

I don't think they went to shit immediately at the point of the merger, but rather it marked the peak, and everything from then onward was downhill, each release closer to the minimum-viable-product and "use games to make money" and not "use money to make games". It will only get worse, as people still give them money.
 
Derangel said:
Technically, they were never bought by Activision. Vivendi bought Blizzard in 98. When Vivendi bought Activision in 08, they merged it with their games division that contained Blizzard and renamed it to Activision Blizzard. For years, both entities ran independently. Every WoW expansion from Lich King onwards was released after the merger, along with the entire Starcraft 2 trilogy. Blizzard's major issues really didn't happen until around the time of D3 and, later, Hearthstone, 4-6 years after the merger. Activision still shares blame for Blizzard's downfall, but let's not pretend they went to shit the moment the merger happened.
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And some key people departed Blizzard prior to Vivendi's acquisition of Activision, which marked the start of Blizzard's decline. Bill Roper, David Brevik, and Mark Kern all departed around the same time in the mid-00s. I think the only one still working at Blizzard from the "glory days" is Chris Metzen. He rejoined Blizzard in 2022 and is now the creative director on World of Warcraft.
 
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