Blizzard Just Cancelled Their Yearly Convention: No BlizzCon 2020

As of this afternoon, Blizzard made it official: There will be no BlizzCon 2020. This is an update to a previously-released statement that said they'd be considering the future. Now it's become a more solid understanding that BlizzCon 2020 will, indeed, be cancelled outright. This does not mean that future BlizzCon events will be held, only that here in 2020, there will be BlizzCon whatsoever.

"We're talking about how we might be able to channel the BlizzCon spirit and connect with you in some way online, far less impacted by the state of health and safety protocols for mass in-person gatherings," wrote Saralyn Smith, Whirlwind Barbarian, Executive Producer of BlizzCon. "We'd want to do this as soon as we could, but given that this is new-ish territory and the different factors involved, it will most likely be sometime early next year."

Blizzard has apparently "talked about different paths we could take" and decided that the risk was too great for any of them, due to global pandemic, novel coronavirus, COVID-19, and so forth. That's most likely sentiment based entirely on physical events, any and all of which could be "complicated by fluctuations in national and local health guidelines in the months ahead."

The update today, May 26, 2020, was made after the first report from Blizzard on the BlizzCon 2020 event being... possibly cancelled. That report came on April 9, 2020. That report was made by Saralyn Smith too – though at that time, she signed her report as a Fury Warrior – but still the Executive Producer of BlizzCon. As a gamer changes the way they role in their favorite game, so too must real-world events change with the times. Cross your fingers for a more real event in 2021.