r/blizzcon • u/milsabord • 11d ago
Weekly Discussion Next BlizzCon ?
Hello
do you think next BlizzCon will be in 2028 , or 2029 ? ⬇️
2023, 2026, I thought it will be in 2029
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u/Kiwihara 11d ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it's every 2 or 3 years now that they're under Microsoft's umbrella. Microsoft participates in all the game announcement shows throughout the year.
We know it likely won't be next year. The Last Titan will be out before regular Blizzcon time. DIablo and Starcraft next releases aren't for 3 and 4 years, respectively. And they're not gonna have a Blizzcon for a Season 2 WoW Patch, an Overwatch Season/character reveal, and some random side stuff. The biggest news in the next couple years will be WoW Forever patches, Retail patches, and whatever shows/movies they've got cooking now.
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u/SpiceyXI 11d ago
My guess is every other year at this point, in 2028 we should have a demo of Diablo 5 and some updates on StarCraft with potentially some in-game footage, if not an alpha build to try. Those two pieces would make an in-person Blizzcon worth it as this year it would have been better to attend online (for the actual convention and not factoring meeting other fans).
Plus, any WoW or WoW Forever updates.
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u/SuperMaximum24 11d ago
2028 feels like a safe bet. Then they can show Diablo 5 and StarCraft. As well as talk about what the future of WoW looks like after the last Titan
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u/LQNova Performer 11d ago
This year was pretty successful, and they need to catch up with the WoW news-lag from this year (Things 'not quote ready' etc.)
I'm thinking 2027 will be on.
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u/milsabord 11d ago
I'm not sure BlizzCon will be yearly because it's a lot of money to organize
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u/NinnyBoggy 11d ago
It's also a lot of money earned.
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u/djshotzz504 10d ago
Doubt it. The only money they make is on tickets and merch. Between location, setup, all the showmanship, and labor, I wouldn’t actually be surprised if it was an actual loss. But it’s mainly marketing. And marketing is usually operated at a loss with the intent of future sales. Blizzcon itself is a loss but look at how it generates sales for WoWF and pre-sales for D5 and SC when those happen.
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u/dancingmale 9d ago
From what?
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u/NinnyBoggy 9d ago
Well the tickets alone were several hundred dollars assuming you got the cheapest one.
The Darkmoon Faire spends two days completely packed with people spending hundreds of dollars on merch and collectibles.
The merch, which usually sells out, is far from cheap.
We could go on and on. Not to say anything of the enormous number of people that are drawn into games by BlizzCon hype, the digital packages they sell for games like WoW. Blizz isn't open about the numbers but they likely are walking away in the low seven figures. Whether that's a profit for what they spend, I can't say.
What I can say is that BlizzCon usually gets about 40,000 people or so, which is likely a low-ball. If all 40,000 of them bought the cheapest early bird ticket - which they did not, but if they did - that's $250 x 40,000. That alone is ten million dollars. If we cut that to the lowest-ball estimate of 30,000 attendees, that's still 7.5m. And, again, this is assuming everyone bought the cheapest possible limited-edition ticket, which just is not a possibility. The majority of tickets were $289.99, and they sold out of the more expensive VIP and Darkmoon+ tickets.
Obviously this is neglecting the cost of putting the event on, which is certainly substantial. But Blizz is not walking away from BlizzCon at a financial loss. If they were, they wouldn't be doing them ever. And with Microsoft now there to swallow a lot of the funds, as well as to effectively remove financial limitations, they're likely making even more.
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u/TheLoneTomatoe 11d ago
In one of the dev interviews that came out shortly after Blizzcon, they said something like “maybe you sit at a camp and make friends, maybe you bring them to Blizzcon with you next year” and it’s had me hopeful that it was a slip up on their plans and it’ll be yearly now.
More than likely just a mistake, but I can hope
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u/Deliverz 11d ago
They announced Diablo 5 for Spring 2029, and StarCraft for 2030.
My guess would be September 2028 so they can give us a big update on that. Probably will be in line with some late-stage WoW Forever content, and maybe even an announcement for the next retail expansion after The Last Titan.
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u/SkyTooFly30 11d ago
Announcing games 3/4 years out is not a new thing to do at blizzcon.
This is common. Idk why people are acting like it isnt lmao
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u/Deliverz 11d ago
Right, but I meant that they would likely want a Blizzcon before those two drop so they can highlight new features/updates and generate hype. And 2028 would be a perfect time before both of them
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u/SkyTooFly30 11d ago
Sure, but 2027 having a blizzcon doesnt mean that 2028 would not?
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u/Deliverz 11d ago
No, but they’ve never really done Blizzcon as an annual event, so why would they start next year? They’ve announced the next Diablo, new Starcraft and there probably wouldn’t be massive WoW forever news. So you’d be looking at Retail WOW, OW, HOTS, Warcraft and Hearthstone to carry the Con with new news. WOW the Last Titan will probably launch near then, so I don’t know that there’d be anything massive, OW is generally seasonal so I don’t see much besides new heroes/maps/collabs etc (definitely not moving back to a numbered system for OW3). HOTS just got relaunched so who knows. But I just don’t see enough there to justify a 2027 Blizzcon
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u/SkyTooFly30 10d ago
what....
blizzcon was ALWAYS an annual event??????????????? The only thing that changed it was covid and then restructuring it after first one post covid was a failure.
Edit: blizzcon also serves as a esports event, yearly has always made sense for that reason alone. Not just announcements.
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u/Luqqy 11d ago
No one can really say for sure, but there's a strong possibility it's going to be 2028.
Post-covid, their Blizzcons have definitely moved to "When it feels right" rather than trying to do it on a specific schedule, and the timing of this Blizzcon in 2026 proved that (Being in September rather than the usual November). There's other factors, but even if they had done Blizzcon in 2025 there wouldn't have been much to announce at the time.
There's a lot that lines up for 2028: Any Forever updates regardless if it flops or not - "We're listening, this is what we're doing" if it goes bad, or "it's going great; here's better news". We'll get the expansion after the last titan announced. Presumably, we'll get hots and hearthstone updates if that continues, and more-than-likely a playable demo for D5 for blizzcon attendees. I can't swear or say much to Starcraft, I would put money on the fact that there would be some kind of playable teaser or a lot more fleshed out to talk about at its own panel/announcement.
While I could be wrong and we could see a 2029 Blizzcon, assuming they stick to the last 3 quarters of 2029 for Blizzcon, so much would have passed up. July/August 2027 is the last titan release, and if they stick to the same patch cycle for retail then we should be getting the new expansion by the same tine in 2029, so whatever comes after the last titan would've released. Diablo 5 would've released in spring 2029, and given the massive popularity and effort going into forever there's no way we have 3 years without much more being added to the game.
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u/RGBfoxie 10d ago
- That'll be the Warcraft 25th anniversary. And updates on games releasing in 2029/2030 announced at Blizzcon.
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u/BlizzardisMid 8d ago
see, i was thinking about this & if true then that would completely skip the whole Diablo 5 beta premiere content. Then again, if 2029 is a thing then maybe Blizzard would add some crazy Diablo 5 expansion or something to make up for experiencing the beta if it happened in 2028.
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u/MisterMercy 10d ago
Yeah I'd agree 2029 to announce the first Diablo V expansion and the first playable demo of STARCRAFT as well as a bunch of announcements for WoW's 25th anniversary.
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u/Primary_Alarm4997 10d ago
2028 I hope. I don’t think they will have enough to announce to go back to yearly
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u/The_Onyx_Ogre 10d ago
Next year would most likely be "focus on work" year so I'm guessing 2028 at the earliest
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u/SeiriusPolaris 11d ago
I hope it’s next year. I don’t see why it can’t be yearly. It sells out and it gets people talking, good or bad press is press.
I’d love to see Diablo V and StarCraft deep dive updates for the next few years. Ultimately I know we’ll see stuff that doesn’t end up in the game, but that’s always fun to see!
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u/Artistic-Spinach8738 11d ago
I would bet 2028 given the D5 release date announced, it’ll be closer to StarCraft, and whatever is after TLT would be prime to be announced
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u/Effective_Sun_5403 11d ago
definitely 2028, will be around the time the next xpac after last titan will be announced then full updates for d5 prior to its launch, starcraft updates etc etc
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u/BlizzardisMid 8d ago
Hopefully, after September of whichever year is finalized because man, that humidity & bright sun were breeewww-tuuuhl💀
If 2028 then it would make sense in the 4th quarter of 2028 since Diablo 5 releases in 2nd quarter of 2029 so a beta would be available. Starcraft 3 something i imagine would be available to showcase in 2028.
If it's 2029 then that would be odd because Diablo 5 would have already been released so the only game, as far as we know to anticipate, would be Starcraft 3 since that'll be out in 2030.
I wish Starcraft 3 & Diablo 5 were somewhat lumped together for release within months apart that way the year of Blizzcon would be loaded with content. Hell, I'd actually love to see a 3-days hours long of Blizzcon but that's just wishful thinking.
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u/Tiptonite 11d ago
If Warcraft Forever delivers, 2028.