Publishing giant Blizzard has announced that in 2012, there will be no Blizzcon, with all efforts being focused on creating the Diablo III that the fans want, and perhaps the next generation MMO that’s been hinted about.
2012 also sees some stiff competition in terms of esports, with Blizzard being very involved with the Battle.net World Championship and several Starcraft championships in South Korea and other asian countries.
Ars technica has been looking at why a Blizzcon isn’t going on this year, not really believing the company line that Blizzard just doesn’t have the resources. After all, as the writer points out, when World of Warcraft was being developed, there was still a Blizzcon going on, showing off everything the company had in the works.
Perhaps it’s that the Battle.net tournaments are where the publishing giant will be putting its efforts, understanding that a lot of the functions of Blizzcon – key note speeches, product announcements, videos – can all be delivered digitally throughout the year. You don’t need to host 25,000 sweaty gamers to launch a game any more. Just tell everyone on Twitter, you’ll have hundreds of thousands talking about it in minutes.
Whichever way you look at it though, Blizzard fans won’t be getting their up-close dose of new gaming footage this year. Perhaps the sad can cross over, become an Apple fanboy for the year. I hear they’re quite popular at the moment.
