BlizzConline will live on but BlizzConInPerson is cancelled again
Blizzard say they won't be able to host a November convention
We may be well into pandemic act two, but cancellations of in-person events are probably going to keep rolling in for a while yet. To that tune, Blizzard have announced that, as with last year, they won't be hosting an in-person BlizzCon event. Also like last year—or rather this year—they're planning to replace it with the internet-only BlizzConline in early 2022.
Blizzard explain that continued uncertainty about in-person events hasn't allowed them the time to pull together a proper BlizzCon plan for November.
"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."
Blizzard say that they're planning an online event "along the lines of our recent BlizzConline" for early 2022 which they'll pair with some in-person gatherings on a smaller scale than a proper convention.
Back in February, Blizzard's first BlizzConline attempted to keep come of the fan-focused togetherness of a proper in-person event. Along with livestreams focused on their big series, they also hosted a community showcase, several Q&A sessions, and even a World Of Warcraft cooking demonstration.
Coming up much sooner than that is this year's E3 in June. It's entirely online this year after getting binned last year due to the pandemic.