Several weeks ago, I shared an update about our uncertainty around holding BlizzCon this year. Since then, a lot has changed . . . and a lot also hasn’t changed. During this time, we’ve had many discussions about what holding a convention could look like in light of all the health and safety considerations we’d want to make. We’ve also talked about different paths we could take, and how each one could be complicated by fluctuations in national and local health guidelines in the months ahead. Ultimately, after considering our options, we’ve come to the very difficult decision to not have BlizzCon this year.
We’re feeling deeply disappointed about this decision, and imagine many of you will feel the same. I truly love BlizzCon, and I know that’s a sentiment shared by everyone at Blizzard. We will sorely miss connecting with so many of you at the convention and “recharging our geek batteries” this fall.
But we will meet again!
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.
We’ll tell you more about our plans as they develop—but in the meantime, we hope to see you exploring the Shadowlands, hanging out in the Tavern, pushing the payload (do it!), and wherever else in the Blizzard universes you may roam.
Stay safe and stay well,
Saralyn Smith
Whirlwind Barbarian, Executive Producer of BlizzCon
Dang, that has to be one of the first fall events cancelled, right?
Gaming-related, anyways. I know at least one bigger event that cancelled last week.
Yeah, we had tickets to take the kids to the Frozen musical in Chicago in late November, and they emailed me last week to let me know it was being postponed until late January. The same weekend as PAX South, which I go to every year.
I was looking forward to going before the pandemic kicked off, but they're handling it exactly like I thought they would. I really didn't want to miss on two years in a row of going to PAX, but maybe next year the community will be able to meet up once more.
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Rooster Teeth Expo finally declares cancellation and said they'll do a stripped down online event instead.
I...didn’t think I’d be making an update for non-covid reasons, but EVO Online has been cancelled due to what can only be described as an unfathomable number of sexual predators being outed in the fgc, including the head of EVO itself.
After being delayed to October, RPGLimitBreak 2020 is now cancelled. It's possible they replace with an online event (with its own submission period) but not sure on that yet.
I'm mostly just glad that no one is too far out of pocket. I know things were very tense with the venue initially and fear was if they had to cancel that it would have literally bankrupt people and basically put an end to the entire event
I'm a little bit afraid this thing closes PAX South 2021...
I expect it will, and that's really going to hurt - South has been my favorite time of year for quite a while now.
Conventions, travel and pretty much everything else associated are just a bad idea until there's a vaccine though, since the US clearly isn't going to safely deal with this by any other method.
We're already seeing businesses push back reopening their offices until well into the next year. And I'm guessing that even if the vaccine does progress quickly, people are going to be cautious until it's wiped out. I wouldn't put money on anything happening until the second half of 2021.
e: Worth mentioning NYCC is doing a joint virtual event with London's MCM Comic Con from October 8-11, same time as they would have been live normally. Link above has more details.
Origins 2020 has officially been cancelled, because of expectations of an incoming second wave of COVID appearing in October. They’re hoping for summer 2021.
The idea of "PAX Unplugged: Plugged In Edition" kind of makes me chuckle.
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out with vaccine distribution now in the mix. If anything, I'm guessing some events that normally happen earlier in the year will aim further back, and there'll certainly be pent up demand, but it could be a bit of an opposite problem if a year (or so) worth of events is crammed into a quarter or two.
Obviously this can't happen literally; if gaming cons are happening then others will as well, and those convention halls have only so much availability to work with, especially if a quarter or three of vaccine distribution allows safe(r) con experiences to be feasible, even for a bit.
Basically, rambling aside, I'm hoping that maybe Gencon is possible in 2021, but that'll remain to be seen until a month or two out, and I'm sure those in Q1 or Q2 are going to be staring at some hard choices to either cancel again or delay and hope for the best.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Yeah, they mentioned in a e-mail the other day that GenCon is still a bit in the air. They are planning on doing it, but they're holding off on doing badge registration and event reg until they know for sure.
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Gaming-related, anyways. I know at least one bigger event that cancelled last week.
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Yeah, we had tickets to take the kids to the Frozen musical in Chicago in late November, and they emailed me last week to let me know it was being postponed until late January. The same weekend as PAX South, which I go to every year.
SGDQ2020 is now only online
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That... Is very cool of them!
Edit: we had all already decided not to go, we were just watching from afar as to how they'd handle it.
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I think the only majors still left standing at this point are NYCC and PAXU.
1 star, would not recommend
After being delayed to October, RPGLimitBreak 2020 is now cancelled. It's possible they replace with an online event (with its own submission period) but not sure on that yet.
I expect it will, and that's really going to hurt - South has been my favorite time of year for quite a while now.
Conventions, travel and pretty much everything else associated are just a bad idea until there's a vaccine though, since the US clearly isn't going to safely deal with this by any other method.
e: Worth mentioning NYCC is doing a joint virtual event with London's MCM Comic Con from October 8-11, same time as they would have been live normally. Link above has more details.
I sure hope we do, but I don't think should is the right word to use and at this point I am all about tempering my expectations.
They will be trying to assist with/signal boost other online events, like Quest For Glory instead
Origins 2020 has officially been cancelled, because of expectations of an incoming second wave of COVID appearing in October. They’re hoping for summer 2021.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out with vaccine distribution now in the mix. If anything, I'm guessing some events that normally happen earlier in the year will aim further back, and there'll certainly be pent up demand, but it could be a bit of an opposite problem if a year (or so) worth of events is crammed into a quarter or two.
Obviously this can't happen literally; if gaming cons are happening then others will as well, and those convention halls have only so much availability to work with, especially if a quarter or three of vaccine distribution allows safe(r) con experiences to be feasible, even for a bit.
Basically, rambling aside, I'm hoping that maybe Gencon is possible in 2021, but that'll remain to be seen until a month or two out, and I'm sure those in Q1 or Q2 are going to be staring at some hard choices to either cancel again or delay and hope for the best.
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Stay safe!