Blizzard cancels BlizzCon 2024, but it wasn't Microsoft's call

Blizzard has officially cancelled BlizzCon 2024, but Microsoft didn't make the decision.

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BlizzCon 2024 isn't happening. Instead, the billion-dollar live service guru plans to hold several smaller-scale events throughout the year, including worldwide in-person affairs for the 30th anniversary of Warcraft. There's also digital celebrations being planned. Blizzard plans to focus primarily on The War Within expansion for WoW and Diablo IV's new Vessel of Hatred expansion.

Cancelling the event makes sense. Rising operational costs have forced mass layoffs, and Blizzard even cancelled one of its new games to reduce spending. Since Microsoft now owns Blizzard, some have assumed that the decision came from them, but it was actually Blizzard's choice. This tracks because Activision Blizzard King operates as a limited-integration company within Microsoft, which means they get to call their own shots.

"This is a Blizzard decision. We have explored different event formats in the past and this isn't the first time we're skipping BlizzCon or trying something new. While we have great things to share in 2024, the timing just doesn't line up for one single event at the end of the year," a Blizzard spokesperson told Windows Central.

Blizzard promises to share more details about its plans soon, including the digital events and goodies coming to its games.

Check below for their statement on the cancellation:

After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it.

While we're approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years.

Over the next few months, we'll be sharing more details about our launches coming later this year, including World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred.

To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom. We can't wait to tell you more about those plans soon.

We're also looking forward to the Overwatch Champions Series' stops at both Dreamhack Dallas and Dreamhack Stockholm.

And we're thrilled to be planning multiple, global, in-person events to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, which will be held in addition to the in-game celebrations across our Warcraft games throughout 2024.

While these events are distinct from BlizzCon, we're harnessing all of our creativity and imagination to ensure that they carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness.

Our hope is that these experiences - alongside several live-streamed industry events where we'll keep you up to date with what's happening in our game universes - will capture the essence of what makes the Blizzard community so special.