Earlier this year, with vaccines seemingly turning the tide against COVID-19, there was some optimism that in-person gaming events would be returning this year, but that increasingly seems to not be the case. E3 is all-digital, Gamescom is all-digital, and now it’s been announced BlizzCon won’t be happening at all. This is the second year in a row a traditional BlizzCon event has been called off. Here’s Blizzard’s explanation for the decision…

　　We know some of you might be wondering about your own plans to potentially cross the country—not to mention oceans—and meet your friends, family, and fellow community members in California, so today, we wanted to give you a heads-up that we’ve decided we will not be holding BlizzCon this year.

　　Building an in-person BlizzCon is an epic and complex affair that takes many months of preparation—not just for us, but also for the many talented production partners, esports pros, hosts, entertainers, artists, and other collaborators we team up with locally and globally to put all of the pieces together. The ongoing complexities and uncertainties of the pandemic have impacted our ability to properly move forward on many of these fronts, and ultimately we’re now past the point where we’d be able to develop the kind of event we’d want to create for you in November.

　　This cancellation comes at a challenging time for Blizzard, as progress on new games like Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 moves slowly, monthly active users are on the decline, and numerous company veterans, like Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan, leave the company. As a small light at the end of the tunnel, Blizzard is promising another event along the lines of this year’s BlizzConline for early 2022, which may include “smaller in-person gatherings.”

　　What are your thoughts on this? Disappointed there will be no BlizzCon this year or were you not terribly excited even before the cancellation?