BlizzCon 2020 was canceled thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but it was reborn as BlizzConline for 2021. The all-virtual event will run from February 19th to 20th and feature everything you’ve come to love from the in-person BlizzCon event, but all done via livestream.
It’s also going to be free, according to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.
Brack sat down to talk in a fireside chat video yesterday to discuss all that Blizzard had accomplished throughout the year, from hosting the Overwatch League Championship in South Korea to the challenges of getting 95% of their workforce working from home.
Then Brack casually dropped the fact that BlizzConline will be free. "While we won't have a physical show this year, we're very much looking forward to BlizzConline early next [year],” Brack said. "We want it to be a big virtual celebration, so BlizzConline will be free to watch and engage in."
Typically, BlizzCon has a cover charge to enter the convention as well as a “virtual ticket” price of $40 to take part in the livestream events. It looks like BlizzConline will be different in more ways than one for Blizzard fans.
In September, Blizzard gave us a bit of a preview for BlizzConline. The online event will feature a Community Showcase that will show cosplay, crafters, artists, and other creatives. There will be a cosplay contest, as well as a virtual version of the annual March of the Murlocs. Normally this would be a bunch of people in Murloc costumes walking throughout the convention center, but this year Blizzard is going to do some sort of mosaic using photos and videos of everyone marching in their homes wearing their best Murloc cosplay.
We're still a few months away from BlizzConline, and in the meantime, we've got World of Warcraft: Shadowlands to look forward to (coming November 23rd), as well as the upcoming Hearthstone expansion Madness at the Darkmoon Faire (arriving November 13th).
Source: Blizzard/YouTube