As you know we are two weeks till BlizzCon, the annual celebration of Blizzard games, that fans look forward to just as much as E3. Perhaps even more so than E3 depending on what kind of fan you are.
Now this year, BlizzCon will be special. No, I won't attend, but I kinda wish I would. Because it will be the largest one of all in the show's history. Why do I believe that?
1. The last one sucked
Let's not kid ourselves. BlizzCon 2018 was underwhelming. The only half decent panel was the one for Overwatch and the guy who got the largest applause was the one who asked if Diablo Immortal was an off season April Fools joke. Any businessman would want to correct such a PR blunder.
2. The competition is strong
Not long after the disastrous BlizzCon, Square Enix unveiled Shadowbringers, the new expansion for Final Fantasy XIV. As of writing this blog, it has been released, it gathered all sorts of awards and is days away from its new patch. Said patch will include the first installment of the YoRHa raid, made by the crazy Yoko Taro himself. While I'm certainly not a fan of what they did to my dear sweet ninja, the zone design, the story and the music is at a whole other level. It's playing in a league of its own.
And you know what's going to be released a week before this patch hits? The new expansion for Star Wars the Old Republic. Nautolans, Onderon, a return of Darth Malgus, it will be a real treat.
The market works in simple ways. If your competitors act, you react. And if the competition is doing well and you are stuck with Battle for Azeroth....you need lots of awesome sauce.
3. The Blitzchung incident
Yeah let's not get into specifics too much. Suffice to say, there was an incident and it spiraled into a PR disaster. I'm talking about US senators and current employees being mad at Blizzard. They'll need some pretty amazing reveals to distract us from the whole controversy, and they know it.
4. There are......hints
These will be ellaborated on in different blog entries, but it is definitely worth mentioning that we are likely going to get a new World of Warcraft expansion with death, ghosts, gloom and other good stuff. And finally another Diablo game. Most likely a prequel MMO. And these are just the things we know.
So get your hype ready. You are going to need it.