It Sounds Like BlizzCon Won’t Go Back To Being An Annual Event

BlizzCon 2026 ended this past Sunday as follows:

“We have so much more in store, so keep your eyes on Blizzard,” said Blizzard president Johanna Faries at the closing ceremonies. “Until then, and until next BlizzCon, thank you everybody. Take care.”

When is the next BlizzCon? In what seems to be the new status quo for these conventions at their conclusions, no one seems to know. I asked Blizzard this question on Tuesday, and it has yet to get back to me.

That’s fair enough, I guess. Back when this was an annual event, we didn’t usually get actual, precise event dates until the spring. But there was almost always some indication that BlizzCon would come back the following year. Often, the closing remarks would include a “see you next year!” from whoever was making them, for instance. But now, after years of a wonky on-again-off-again schedule, no one seems to be making that promise.

I don’t think this fact is shocking or upsetting, but it is notable. From 2005 all the way to 2019, there was a BlizzCon almost every year, with only 2006 and 2012 getting skipped. There was obviously no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021’s BlizzCon was entirely online. 2022 was also skipped amid the company’s massive harassment scandal and lawsuit, and then it returned in 2023 as an in-person event once again. After 2023, everyone thought that the show would return to its past schedule as an annual event. But then, Blizzard skipped both 2024 and 2025 in the wake of (if not necessarily because of) the company’s acquisition by Microsoft before finally returning in force again this year.

© Kotaku

In that regard, BlizzCon hasn’t been an annual event in seven years, so maybe this isn’t surprising to people. But I think throughout the 2020s, there have been pretty obvious reasons why the company wasn’t holding the event. To me, the lack of a “See you next year!” or some sort of clear indication at the end of BlizzCon 2026 that the event would be back in 2027 firmly puts a period on the end of a particular era: an era when Blizzard reliably had enough to show off annually to warrant gathering thousands of fans in one place year after year, and the budget and support to do so.

I don’t blame it. How many publishers nowadays are still doing an annual con for their games? QuakeCon? Tennocon? Is that it? With Xbox’s future plagued with uncertainty, the pressure on Blizzard to have enough announcements to fill a keynote every time it does this is immense. And games are taking longer to develop than ever. This also, perhaps, explains why Blizzard was so eager to get Diablo 5 and StarCraft out in front of everyone. It may not have another chance like this until both games are imminent.

So, as far as the next BlizzCon is concerned, we just have to sit tight. The next event will be “ready when it’s ready” as Blizzard used to often say of its games, even as it announces firm, “confident” windows three to four years out for Diablo 5 and StarCraft. Who knows what Xbox, Blizzard, and its games will look like when that day comes?