No BlizzCon for 2012, Says Blizzard
No BlizzCon for you this year if you want Diablo 3, Mists of Pandaria and Heart of the Swarm out on time.
2012 seems to be the year of trade show death. First Microsoft said it plans to pull out of CES starting next year, then the company said that MIX would no longer be a stand-alone event. Now Blizzard has spun off Battle.net World Championship while canceling this year's BlizzCon convention. Not to worry though: BlizzCon will return in 2013.
"Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world," the company revealed in an email. "Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory."
Ok, that's fine and dandy. But why can't we have a BlizzCon 2012? Simply put, Blizzard has a lot on its plate this year alone (aka a jam-packed schedule). Instead of worrying about an upcoming show, the company wants to focus on getting Diablo 3, the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft, and the second installment to StarCraft 2, Heart of the Swarm, into our hands as soon as possible.
That said, Blizzard is clearly forgiven for postponing the show for one year. Still, this will be the first year since 2006 without a BlizzCon on the event planner. The initial convention took place back in 2005, and then skipped over 2006. Since 2007, BlizzCon has resided at the Anaheim Convention Center in California in August or October every year since. And even though Blizzard charges for admission, the company usually runs the show at a loss.
More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will be coming in the months ahead, Blizzard said.
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=(
"...usually runs the runs the show at a loss." OH EM GEE. Blizzard actually doing something with the TRILLIONS of moneys from WoW subscriptions. /end of sarcasm
I'm sure they have the money to hire an extra team just for blizzcon..........
so, they are late regardless if it happens or not... just hire an outside party to setup blizcon, and have some of the important people go there and talk and such, it wont set you back weeks or months, days at worst.
Oh well, I can never attend anyway due to the odd time of year that it is scheduled. I don't know why they don't do it in the summer, when us teachers could actually go.
there is quakecon going on but why no blizzcon.
A bit strange of a reason given. It's not like they take every single member of the developer team to the event. Even if a few key people went I doubt it would cause any real delays. I can imagine hardcore fans will be disappointed.
The event is basically a advertisement, its not even really about the consumers that attend but the media. Hold a event, the media talks about it equaling much more free advertisement in the end. Which raises product awareness with hype and thus sales. Just like any other form of advertising it will be a expense.
Does Activision have a yearly Call of dutycon? no, then why would blizzard?
Blizz is turning into a joke, they are busy working on Titan there next futuristic title, World of Warcraft 40K
We all know they are not holding the event because they are already so far behind they have nothing to bring any way.
Funny they say they are doing it because they want it to be on time, when its more like "We have nothing to offer, its no where near close to being finished"
The never said anything about on time, read the article again:
"Instead of worrying about an upcoming show, the company wants to focus on getting Diablo 3, the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft, and the second installment to StarCraft 2, Heart of the Swarm, into our hands AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."
It's a little disappointing that there won't be a Blizzcon this year, but if it means that we see some of the current anticipated projects complete and on the shelf sooner, I'm ok with that.
We all know they are not holding the event because they are already so far behind they have nothing to bring any way.
Funny they say they are doing it because they want it to be on time, when its more like "We have nothing to offer, its no where near close to being finished"
Yep, they blew their wad last BlizzCon. What will they do? Provide playing samples of SC2 expansion, D3, and release teasers of Mists? Oh wait, they did that last year....
This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey
This topic has been reopen by Mousemonkey
This makes sense to me. Release D3 already, and the fans will stay home and play it. They won't need to gather at BlizzCon to complain that D3 is still not out. Of course, in 2013 we'll need a BlizzCon again, to start complaining about D4.
how can Blizzard be late, or not on time people, if they have not set a release dates...... They release stuff when they feel it is finished.
Blizzard is falling apart...
Actually Id rather you blow your money on Blizzcon and then go bankrupt by not releasing that blasphemy Diablo 3! You no longer deserve your place on the throne Lamester.
Am I the only one that thinks Blizzard as a company is starting to fall a part.
They had a abysmal World of Warcraft Expansion release where they have lost part of there player base.
Rumor has it they lost the lead designer of the Diablo 3 design team.
They have said the release of Diablo 3 has been pushed back.
Now they are canceling blizcon.
These are not things a healthy company has happen or does. There flag ship product World of Warcraft has become a joke. The game has become so fine tuned to the younger causal players that the hardcore no longer need apply.
diablo 3 is as vaporware as Duke Nukem
diablo 3 is as vaporware as Duke Nukem
years behind.
What I read here was - 'Blizzard is too busy making pandas for the chinese to host Blizzcon'
Seems like Blizzard has seen its best days...
Haha... WOW SUCKS, and now it's gonna die.
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Problem?
It would seem that Blizzard has bit off more than it can chew this year, with the game slippage and all. Having said that, if D3 and the WOW Exp prove to be great, all will be forgiven. If not... no company is totally bullet proof.
It would seem that Blizzard has bit off more than it can chew this year, with the game slippage and all. Having said that, if D3 and the WOW Exp prove to be great, all will be forgiven. If not... no company is totally bullet proof.
Actually a company can near bullet-proof itself by NEVER DEGRADING the quality and HALF-ASSING anything then Company will survive but if the latter happens then crap goes KABOOM.
I'm in the Diablo 3 beta and I must say I'm extremely unimpressed with the game....so far. I found myself playing it well after I was bored just to give it a chance. My how far the mighty Blizzard has fallen. )=
I'm in the Diablo 3 beta and I must say I'm extremely unimpressed with the game....so far. I found myself playing it well after I was bored just to give it a chance. My how far the mighty Blizzard has fallen. )=
Well your impression of the Bata goes a long way toward explaining the shake-up in D3 production and the delay in releasing it. All the better for T2 to get its foot in the door, but don’t wait too long!
Blizzard should cancel all the projects, and start working on Warcraft 4 with many many expansions.
They Will postpone because they simply don't have what to display there... They already talked about mists of pandaria, diablo 3, and SC2 expansion on the last blizzcon.
I like blizzard games but they are pretty slow...
Some titles like diablo 3 are taking too long to be done, and when that happens, it is almost sure, the game will suck... almost like Duke nukem forever...
Considering Blizzcon is basically a huge advertising fest (primarily) paid for by attendees between admission and merchandise…cancelling it can’t be viewed as anything but a bad thing. There are really only 2 explanations for it.
Either WoW is losing more subscribers than even expected, which is understandable because these things tend to accelerate and snowball. With MMOs as players leave, it negatively impacts all aspects of the game (socaializing/raiding/pvp/auction house, etc) and it snowballs which leads to more players leaving. The death of an MMO is usually not a slow curve, it ends up being a sharp dropoff.
The other option is that Blizzard really doesn’t feel like they will have enough new content to announce to support Blizzcon this year. If they are counting on Diablo 3 (which doesn’t sound great – a 2D game that looks straight out of 2002), the SC2 expansion (meh), and MoP which left everyone pretty unexcited – that’s a little disappointing. I was really hoping for at least some snippets of the “Titan” project or the expansion to follow MoP at this year’s Blizzcon. Saying developers can’t afford to take a few days (maybe a week including prep time) for Blizzcon is hard to buy.
I absolutely hate to say it, but lately most of the games I’ve been playing are EA: BF3, SWOTR, and Madden for me… and this coming from a guy with over 10 level 80/85 characters who was a hardcore WoW raider since 2005. Blizz needs to hit the reset button back ~5 years.