BlizzConline Postponed As Blizzard Looks To ‘Reimagine’ The Event

Blizzard canceled this 12 months’s BlizzCon earlier this 12 months as a result of COVID-related causes. The plan was to reconvene in early 2022 as an online-only occasion, dubbed BlizzConline, however the firm has additionally determined to postpone that occasion. 

In a letter to followers (which you’ll learn right here), Blizzard explains it will somewhat commit its sources to engaged on its present slate of initiatives, which we all know consists of Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. 

“Right now, we really feel the power it will take to placed on a present like that is finest directed in direction of supporting our groups and progressing improvement of our video games and experiences.” reads the letter. 

Blizzard can also be trying to evolve the occasion as an entire to search out new and/or higher methods of bringing its followers collectively. The corporate additionally says it needs to deal with making the occasion really feel as “protected, welcoming, and inclusive as potential.” This explicit promise looks like a response to the not too long ago resurfaced video from a World of Warcraft reside Q&A from BlizzCon 2010. A feminine participant requested the all-male panel of builders if the sport’s solid of girls might put on much less revealing clothes, to which she was brazenly mocked by the workers (which included the now-ousted president, J. Allen Brack).   

Blizzard ends the letter by reassuring followers that new bulletins for present and upcoming video games will nonetheless happen. Simply don’t essentially anticipate to listen to about them throughout the timeframe BlizzConline would have occurred.

As many people possible know, Activision Blizzard has spent the previous few months battling a number of state and federal lawsuits over its abusive office tradition, notably its remedy of feminine and marginalized workers. The corporate not too long ago agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee. Blizzard additionally revealed the brand new identify of Overwatch’s McCree, a personality as soon as named after a now-ex worker cited as an abuser within the lawsuits.