It's good news and bad news for Blizzard fans. The bad news is that BlizzCon is skipping 2025, making it the second year running the convention hasn't transpired, and the fifth time since 2020 that BlizzCon had not held a live event. The good news is that BlizzCon is definitely happening in 2026, with Blizzard providing dates, a location, and even a few details.
BlizzCon 2026 will be held on September 12 and 13, with the event taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. In a press release, Blizzard provided a brief summary of what attendees can expect next year.
"For 2026, alongside BlizzCon staples like Opening Ceremony, in-depth panels, the Darkmoon Faire, friendly competition, hands-on gameplay, and more, we aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience."
Blizzard doesn't provide a reason as to why BlizzCon 2025, which would have been the event's 20th anniversary, isn't happening. It didn't offer much explanation for last year's literal non-event either, but it did at least say at the time that the decision "was not made lightly" and clarified that the choice was made internally, and not at the behest of Blizzard's then new owner Microsoft.
Indeed, BlizzCon's recent history is pretty patchy. The event was last held properly in 2023, taking place in November that year. Prior to that, the last live BlizzCon occurred in 2019: 2020's event was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, while 2021 tried to replace the convention with a free online event called BlizzConline. A similar virtual affair was planned for 2022, but the civil rights lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard in 2021 led to the company putting BlizzCon "on pause".
While the details about the 2026 event are still fairly slim, there's an SXSW panel featuring Blizzard president Johanna Faries occurring in just a couple of hours' time, so there's a chance more specifics may be revealed shortly.
