Blizzcon 2020 officially cancelled due to coronavirus

For the first time in 8 years, Blizzcon has been cancelled and won't be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

Blizzard today confirmed Blizzcon 2020 isn't happening. The risks for coronavirus exposure are just too high, but we won't see any kind of digital-only stream replacement either.

"Ultimately, after considering our options, we've come to the very difficult decision to not have BlizzCon this year," Blizzard executive producer Saralyn Smith said in a blog post.

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"We're talking about how we might be able to channel the BlizzCon spirit and connect with you in some way online, far less impacted by the state of health and safety protocols for mass in-person gatherings. We'd want to do this as soon as we could, but given that this is new-ish territory and the different factors involved, it will most likely be sometime early next year. BlizzCon is also a stage for big esports events in Blizzard games each year, so we're also looking into alternatives for supporting some of the high-level competition that would normally take place at the show."

While Blizzard won't hold its own exclusive stream or event, it will be part of Geoff Keighley's huge four-month long Summer Game Fest showcase. The company will likely show off new Overwatch 2 content and footage throughout the coming weeks, but Diablo IV updates will be more centralized via regular blog posts.