Blizzard confirmed that the BlizzCon 2022 event has been canceled. However, the company assured the community that it will still have announcements and games updates through their franchise channel.
Blizzard Cancels BlizzCon 2022
For background information, Blizzard announced their plans, including its agendas for BlizzCon, in a blog post last May. After several thorough discussions, they decided to cancel BlizzCon 2021 due to the pandemic.
Additionally, BlizzCon Executive Producer Saralyn Smith said that the complexities and uncertainties that the pandemic brought affected their ability to conduct the event this November 2021.
"Building an in-person BlizzCon is an epic and complex affair that takes many months of preparation-not just for us, but also for the many talented production partners, esports pros, hosts, entertainers, artists, and other collaborators we team up with locally and globally to put all of the pieces together," Smith furthered on the Blizzard blog.
Nonetheless, Smith shared that Blizzard Entertainment does not want fans to wait longe and confirmed that they plan to have a global event for the early part of 2022. In addition to this plan, they would also combine the online shows along with a BlizzConline which has a smaller in-person gathering.
Unfortunately, Blizzard shared in their latest blog they are stepping back and pausing the plans they had for the BlizzCon 2022.
Blizzard Entertainment wrote that any BlizzCon event takes a massive effort to make it happen, and they also want to ensure safety for people in such events.
"One more thing we wanted to make clear: even though we aren't holding BlizzConline in February, we'll still be making announcements and updates for our games. We're proud of our teams and the progress they've made across our games. We have a lot of exciting upcoming news and releases to share with you," Blizzard clarified in the post.
In relation to this, the Blizzard community will still get updates through their franchise channels.
For what it's worth, though, the issues the company is experiencing might be a factor in the cancellation of BlizzCon 2022.
Blizzard Entertainment Faces Multiple Lawsuits
According to Ars Technica, Activision Blizzard is facing multiple lawsuits, including allegations of widespread workplace harassment as well as sexual misconduct throughout the years.
For those not familiar with the situation, Activision Blizzard is the creator of several interactive and entertainment games including "Candy Crush," "Call of Duty," "Diablo," "Hearthstone," "World of Warcraft," and "Overwatch."
In relation to the multiple lawsuits that they face, Ars Technica furthered that Activision Blizzard is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over how they dealt with several allegations and whether related information were disclosed to shareholders by the executives.
Apart from this, to recall, BlizzCon 2019 experienced an in-person protest in response to the treatment of Blizzard with the outspoken pro-Hong Kong Hearthstone player Ng "Blitzchung" Wai Chung.
It remains to be seen what Blizzard plans for its events, but it looks like fans will have to wait for some more time.
