Blizzcon 2026: Should You Be Excited?

It’s been a while since I really have taken a close look at #Blizzcon. Because of COVID in part, a generally busy schedule and the fact that there wasn’t a Blizzcon for the past two years, the idea of Blizzcon has been put out of my mind for sometime. Given the two year hiatus of Blizzcon, one would think that #Blizzard will really push the boundaries as there have been various resets, including Activision Blizzard’s acquisition by Microsoft’s Xbox division (which possibly has been a reason why there has been no Blizzcon for two years straight). Yet given the history and actual schedule, one must temper and set their expectations accordingly.

Before talking about any hypotheticals, I think it’s important to first talk about what has been announced as per the schedule and floor plans thus far. First, we have a week until Blizzcon 2026 starts, which is Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th. The opening ceremony is on the 12th between 10:30am – 11:45am. The bulk of the schedule is various tournaments with the emphasis on WoW Arena, Hearthstone, Overwatch and Diablo Immortal and some classic games mixed in. The rest of the major announcements are on some “What’s next” pieces for Diablo (general), Diablo 4, Heathstone, WoW and WoW: HC. The remaining parts are mostly just the workers talking about their areas such as art or music. The one key differential here is a collaboration discussion with CD Projekt on Battle.net. And from my understanding, CD Projekt is going to do another IP type of integration with some of Blizzard’s games via their Witcher series. Beyond that, nothing really major was announced (unless you count Le Sserafim being invited back for a concert but I honestly have no clue whom these people are)

Despite all this, many people are already speculating on some of the major next things in line. For myself, I’ve been mostly out of the loop except for anything Diablo related. But here’s a few sure hand bets based on what we’re seeing above, Blizzard’s history, the maps and even some hints that were provided earlier in the year during the Diablo anniversary day announcement.

• Blizzard / Microsoft will follow the money. If you examine all the major emphasis above, the bulk is for any existing brand that is making money. Everything else has been relegated to a “classic/legacy” type of umbrella, INCLUDING STARCRAFT.
• Diablo Immortal has become a huge deal because they’re getting a “dedicated” arena and tournament (again, the follow the money philosophy)
• The only games that have a future for Blizzard / Microsoft are ones that have been announced with a “what’s next” panel.
• Recently, Blizzard / Microsoft did mention the massive financial success for Diablo 4 and Immortal, which is why both are receiving these updates, although we have to see if D2:R will catch the same attention given how that was the thing that truly blew hardcore fans of the genre during the anniversary day announcement in the Warlock addition.
• Blizzard itself has learned to lean on nostalgia as a massive selling point. Rather than risk a new IP, it’s far safer for them to salvage an older title that they own and remake it. In turn, quite a few people are speculating on a Diablo remake here. However, if you examine the map closely there is only a small section devoted to the Diablo 1-3 over on the classic games side (which actually includes Heroes of the Storm, which is mind blowing to me because of how “recent” it feels compares to the others). The rest of the Diablo demos are all Immortal and 4, which share Hall B with Hearthstone. I imagine if Blizzard intended to demo a full remaster release, they would have dedicated an entire area for the new (old) game.
• People are never going to let Blizzard down for the infamous “Do you not have phones?” incident. There’s been other controversies such as the Hong Kong incident. Blizzard has been under some scrutiny for sexual harassment and there has been a lot of pressure from the new Xbox boss with the recent layoffs. These things are going to put extra pressure on Blizzard to really deliver (although I doubt it) or at the very least minimize how much they’re going to offend people this time around (doesn’t even have to be a DEI type of scenario; just disappointment)
• Blizzard has been less about the gaming culture and their old values that made them a force in the gaming world and more self-indulgent as well as an artifact of the past with a dwindling fan base. But you can see the heavy emphasis on e-sports as the bulk of the convention is taken up in the schedule by e-sports related events.

Having established these points, I’m going to take a general stab (as opposed to a specific one) for my own ideas of what we may see at Blizzcon 2026.

• Tons of WoW updates because it makes money still (and because there are plenty of people still addicted worse than someone on heroin to this piece of garbage)
• More Hearthstone cards and expansions to further pollute the pool because it makes money
• Some more Overwatch skins, characters, etc. because that’s going to sell with their gacchi setup
• Diablo Immortal receiving by far the most meaningful updates of any game in Blizzard because Blizzard values all the microtransactions the Chinese blindly buy whereas the rest of the world doesn’t care since we have zero interest in opening are wallets up for a soulless game
• Diablo 4 receiving terrible updates that are just going to push everyone to Path of Exile 2 because it’s coming out for FUCKING FREE in December in full and is looking really good. And from my side, I have no desire to play Path of Exile 2 but I can’t deny what GGG is doing for that game compared to the drek that has been spewing since LoH’s release (maybe even arguably after Vessel of Hatred).
• The tiniest possibility of a remake, or at least an announcement of one Diablo I would be the candidate because it’s not a complex game and I think just slapping on better graphics seems like a low hanging effort type of thing to easily sell nostalgia.
• A port announcement. I did hear about this but from my viewpoint, the console industry is going to die a horrible death. Sony effectively shot themselves in the dick with their callous treatment of physical media and their views on purchases not equating to ownership. Then Xbox announced a per hour type of limiting factor for their pass. But to me this is just the beginning of the end and I think anyone who is a sucker to buy a console game port especially for the Xbox will get what they deserve.

As you can see, I really have no enthusiasm for this Blizzcon. In fact, my expectations are so low that I expect to get angry at almost everything they mention because it will feel soulless and just cater to Microsoft’s greed.

But if I’m being so negative, why even write about this situation? Why waste this time talking about a subject that I clearly am at the very least apathetic towards if not receive high blood pressure inducing mania from? So what really instigated all of this are maybe 2-3 goofballs over at Reddit. One in particular has been posting the most outlandish, unrealistic, dick sucking fantasies that anyone with a particle of a brain cell can see through. The best response I’ve read under any of these posts has been describing this person as a “karma farmer.”

For me, this is the kind of person that really gets under my skin. He’s basically the equivalent of Mike Bailey to Jim Cornette for me. I mean, I doubt any form and quantity of coke could ever get me to remotely believe at this stage anything decent will be announced at Blizzcon 2026. Even the Diablo 4 announcement day, once the Diablo 4 developers took the stage, the entire Twitch chat just blew up at them anywhere with apathy towards raw hatred. But I think that’s because like myself, a lot of people who have been fans of Blizzard and the Diablo franchise just are so disappointed because our expectations are dead effectively. Oddly, I wasn’t even unhappy with the Warlock announcement; my real disappointment was that the “announcement” was just a cocktease. People want more meat on the bones not the moldy scraps of disgusting feces infested bread you throw through the prison cell door window.

Here’s the thing for me here. I don’t want to be negative about Blizzard. I actually want to be pleasantly surprised and blown out of the water. But it’s almost impossible not to feel cynical and wary based on history. All of the old guard are gone and what we have left are clearly MARKS, sycophants and grimy slimeballs trying to make a name for themselves in the gaming industry. But the lack of vision over time, the frequent revolving door nature at Blizzard, the various controversies, the bizarre internal mandates for how their games are presented especially with regards to “content” (i.e. let’s just have some dials, flip these around every 3-6 months and call it massive changes to satisfy our corporate KPI overlords), etc. have exhausted me.

I mentioned before that Lord of Hatred effectively gave Diablo 4 a lifeline. There were actual elements resembling sanity and a decent notion somewhere in there. Then they completely fucked it up the following season. How? This is just sheer insanity to me. You finally got some momentum, you got some actual excitement in the game that brought back a lot of old players who had become cynical. Then you just say, “Fuck ’em.” What the hell? Why the fuck would you do this to yourselves?

I figure the MARKS that are left sniffing Blizzard’s jockstrap (like that guy on reddit) suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. I mean, you have to love this type of mental and emotional abuse to not only put up with it but embrace and celebrate it. Otherwise, it really just is blatant karma farming. But this kind of person reminds me of something AlkaizerX once said about your typical Blizzard fanboi: “This is the person who gets excited when Blizzard changes the color of a rock from yellow to pink!” No kidding. I mean, Witcher and Diablo 4 collab? It’s only going to be skins at best but I ain’t paying for that type of nonsense.

For myself, I’ll just watch from someone’s else’s stream (like probably Mathil1’s). I really want them to announce something exciting that gives me hope for the future of Blizzard. I want to feel enthusiastic. I want some killer content that comes out from Diablo 4. I want them to see Path of Exile 2 as a real threat to their existence and become serious about trying to compete in terms of output and features. Hell, I’ve written numerous posts on how to improve things because a blind squirrel should be able to find that nut on a bad day. It’s just really hard to feel any form of hope when you just see this version of Barad-dûr with Microsoft as this great eye of Sauron peering over his orc minions with Blizzard being this man-slave corporate version of the Nazgûl.

Now, am I being overly critical and a bit mean here? Probably. But am I going to apologize for how I feel? No, and I’m not changing my mind. I’m simply really exhausted to the point where it’s not really Blizzard at this stage because I’m just about done with them. However, I look at this Carrot Top type of muthafucka and think what a little ketchup masturbator. What the actual fuck? Stop lying to yourself. Stop making this situation worse. The pain already is there and has been there for so long but now you’re just taking a new rusted blade and stabbing it into my preexisting wounds? That’s how I feel about this situation. I’m not going to sugar coat how I feel.