BlizzCon was Good, but the Vibes Were Weird

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There aren't many studios who can pull off something like BlizzCon. Last weekend, Blizzard's convention returned after three years away, and was marked by an absolute ton of news: Major new StarCraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft releases were announced, and new stuff for just about every game in Blizzard's bulging warchest, including the first expansion for Warcraft 3 in 23 years and a surprise update for the forgotten MOBA Heroes of the Storm.

The star of the show was undoubtedly — if strangely — World of Warcraft: Forever, a wild paradox that reimagines the original 2004 game with a fixed progression ceiling and some modernizations the main game may never get. It's beyond exciting for old hands like me, but anecdotally, I'm hearing players with no history are feeling drawn to its blank slate and unapologetically throwback gameplay. Are ornery old MMOs… cool now? You can even play it with a gamepad!

I love BlizzCon; I've been many times. It has a special atmosphere. I couldn't go this year, but watching from afar, the vibe seemed good, but weird. Blizzard President Johanna Faries was visibly emotional during her opening ceremony address, and made veiled references to the uncertainty of the times — did she mean the general state of the world? Or the game industry? Or Blizzard's parent company, Xbox? The latter may explain why Blizzard announced Diablo 5 and a StarCraft shooter crazily early, and even did the unthinkable and put release dates on them.

Diablo 4 fans were stunned to learn the game will only last six years — half the usual lifespan of a Diablo game — despite its huge success. There's clearly something odd going on there that might be related to Xbox's reported forced march on big franchises. StarCraft's reveal may have a different motivation: convincingly shopping the franchise to film and TV producers, perhaps. Or, as project lead Dan Hay put it to Polygon's Mike McWhertor, just making it feel real to both developers and fans.

As ever at BlizzCon, though, there were some heartwarming stories, and abundant evidence that Blizzard's developers deeply care about the games. Polygon's Tomas Franzese spoke to Diablo 5's lead writer Jennifer Hepler, a BioWare vet who suffered appalling harassment from the Dragon Age fanbase in a previous life. It's great to see her back on such a massive title.

Tomas also talked to James Yen, a Blizzard producer who started out as a game master for World of Warcraft, and has now been tasked with reviving Heroes of the Storm. His story reminded me of my chat with Matthew Cederquist, a former WoW dev who now oversees the legacy Diablo games and who was the one to pitch this year's Reign of the Warlock expansion to Diablo 2.

You can say what you like about the way Blizzard is run. But the love that Blizzard staffers have for the studio's heritage is real, and there's clearly some will at management level to preserve this heritage, curate it, and share it with fans. Sometimes that just takes the form of a new hero for HOTS. But sometimes it ends up in a project like WoW Forever, which imagines a different structure for MMOs. Sometimes, looking back can lead to a new way forward.

Plus this: