What could we see at BlizzCon 2023?

BlizzCon 2023 is less than a week away and the hype is really building now. As the first in-person BlizzCon in four years there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the development teams of all the franchises to deliver some extra excitement, so what might we see announced at BlizzCon this year?

The BlizzCon map and schedule are always helpful for predicting events

Normally a big clue to the focus of announcements is the official BlizzCon map. One interesting aspect of this year’s event is that all panels are happening in the BlizzCon Arena rather on multiple stages, providing more floor space to show off games. While a hall dedicated to the Diablo franchise and to the Overwatch World Cup makes sense, it’s odd that Overwatch 2 is getting a full hall. Could there be something “hidden” there not to be revealed until BlizzCon?

The schedule itself, while sparse, has a couple interesting quirks with it. The first one is the large gap between the opening ceremony and the World of Warcaft: What’s Next panel; while the opening ceremony could conceivably be over two hours (as noted above, the development teams are going to be pressured to make a splash), there’s also a possibility of an unrevealed panel in that slot. There’s also the later start on the second day; a panel could easily happen before the World of Warcraft Deep Dive.

Hearthstone

Hearthstone is the easiest of all franchises to forecast as we already know the next expansion is Showdown in the Badlands and it releases the week after BlizzCon wraps up. It’s interesting that the team chose to announce it in advance (usually it’s announced at BlizzCon), that could mean a new mode is being debuted — although it hasn’t been that long since Twist came out. That said, it could simply be a case of Hearthstone being asked to keep things simple so that the other franchises have more time to cover their forthcoming content.

World of Warcraft

Dragonflight patch 10.2 of World of Warcraft — likely the final raid tier — is also releasing the week after BlizzCon, and the expected focus is on the next expansion for the game due to arrive next fall. 2024 is also the 20th Anniversary of the World of Warcraft franchise, so there may be some big news around that event. With Icecrown Citadel already released for Wrath Classic there’s nothing left to announce there unless it’s time for Cataclysm Classic or the speculative alternate history “Classic+”. The fact that Classic gets an hour on stage could indicate a big announcement, or they could simply be discussing Burning Crusade Classic Hardmode or other ways to keep players interested in the Classic gameplay.

Upcoming Survival Game

The announced and unnamed Upcoming Survival Game has been in the works for a few years now and it may be getting ready to receive a formal reveal at BlizzCon this year. If there are deliberate gaps in the schedule then this is the most likely candidate to make an appearance.

Diablo

Diablo 4 is likely going to reveal the first expansion, as they are planned to release annually. How much detail we get about it will largely depend on when it’s expected in 2024 — if it’s spring or early summer we may get a full preview, but if it’s not going to be out until later next year we may only get some general details. We may also get a preview of what Season 3 has to offer, as Season 2 has already started.

Diablo: Immortal is a wildcard as well, although it wouldn’t surprise me to see a new class announcement to followup the Blood Knight released earlier this year.

Overwatch 2

There has been no word on Overwatch 2 receiving expansions so the expectation is that instead the game will show future content including a new hero or heroes and maps — we do know that a tank hero is being revealed, but it’s possible future heroes will be announced. It’s also possible there will be an update similar to the recently-released Invasion announced as well. Finally there have been rumors of a major competitive revamp coming to the game, which would explain why there’s a Deep Dive and a What’s Next scheduled for the franchise.

Warcraft Rumble

No longer called “Arclight Rumble“, Warcraft Rumble is going to be a featured game at BlizzCon and will officially release. It’s possible we’ll get future details, but the expectation with the concurrent release is that it’ll mostly focus on how to play.

Older Franchises

Starcraft. A third installment in the popular RTS franchise could come someday, but there’s currently nothing to indicate that it’s being worked on.

Heroes of the Storm. While many of us would like to see the game resurrected — and the recent small content addition gave us some small measure of hope — nothing new is expected to be announced.

Could there also be a completely new game announced at BlizzCon 2023? It feels unlikely, especially with the Untitled Survival Game still in an unknown state. There’s also a chance at a remaster of an older game a la Diablo 2 Resurrected — perhaps the world is finally ready for The Lost Vikings reborn!

Originally published August 14, 2023; updated October 30, 2023