Blizzard has announced that BlizzCon will return to the Anaheim Convention Center in California later this year. The event will take place on November 3 and 4, 2023, with more information, including ticketing and competition details, to be announced next month.
“Our players are at the heart of what makes BlizzCon great – a place where games are the common ground for connection and friendship,” Blizzard said Wednesday.
The ‘annual’ gaming convention designed to celebrate Blizzard games hasn’t had a live, in-person event since 2019. In May 2020, Blizzard officially canceled plans for this year’s event due to the ongoing challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said at the time that it was discussing the feasibility of holding a digital event in 2021 instead. This digital-only event, dubbed BlizzConline, took place in February 2021, but a few months later, Blizzard confirmed that hopes of holding a physical event later in the year had been abandoned due to the ongoing pandemic.
The company also said it planned to hold a hybrid event in early 2022 that would mix the BlizzConline format with “smaller in-person gatherings,” but that too was canceled following the emergence of a sex discrimination and harassment scandal at Blizzard.
“Every BlizzCon event requires the effort of each of us to make it happen, a company-wide effort fueled by our desire to share what we create with the community we care so deeply about,” Blizzard said in canceling the 2022 event.
