The BlizzCon schedule has been released. Start the wild speculation!

Name: The BlizzCon schedule has been released. Start the wild speculation! | Open Video
Uploaded: 2026-09-12T18:53:58+00:00
Duration: 1 h 9 min 33 s

0:08
[music]
0:10
>> Hello and welcome to the Blizzard Watch
0:12
podcast
0:13
where we talk about Blizzard
0:14
Entertainment and its many games and its
0:17
yearly sometimes conventions and other
0:20
stuff.
0:21
They do a lot of things.
0:23
Uh with me this week are as always the
0:25
EIC of the site
0:27
Liz Harper. Hello Liz.
0:29
>> Hello.
0:30
>> Uh special guest
0:32
Liz Pat who is not Liz Harper nor is she
0:36
a replicant from another dimension
0:37
seeking to kill Liz to gain her powers.
0:40
>> I would never kill Liz. She's my friend.
0:43
>> Yes, exactly. You have not come to this
0:45
dimension, assumed a different guise,
0:48
and attempted to kill her in a kung fu
0:49
fight.
0:50
>> Yeah, of course not.
0:50
>> just be weird.
0:52
Uh and finally Joe Perez who also isn't
0:55
doing that but I wouldn't be surprised
0:57
if he was.
0:58
>> I've decided that I want my unofficial
1:00
title for to be for the the site
1:02
director of podcast audio editing.
1:04
>> All right.
1:05
>> I don't care.
1:06
>> [laughter]
1:07
>> It's It sounds fancy.
1:09
>> here though.
1:09
>> It sounds fancy.
1:10
>> Can we give Liz Can we give Joe a title?
1:12
>> That's why I said unofficial.
1:14
>> It's quite unofficial [laughter] since
1:16
>> I I think I can feel I can I can feel
1:18
Liz face palming right now.
1:21
>> Yeah, through the screen.
1:23
Ooh, Liz noise in the first minute.
1:25
>> [clears throat]
1:25
[laughter]
1:26
>> I just I I wanted to point out that this
1:29
is a strange time for Blizzard news
1:32
because of reasons involving a
1:34
convention happening. So, we're just
1:37
going to do the best we can and
1:40
we'll see what happens.
1:40
>> we got a bunch of stuff to talk about
1:41
there. I mean, it's sort of big news on
1:43
its own, man.
1:45
>> It's pretty big speculation, too,
1:46
though.
1:47
>> That's what people listen to us for.
1:49
>> I feel uncomfortable speculating. I
1:51
don't I don't do it very well.
1:52
>> I am sorry. Who are you and what have
1:53
you done with Matt Rossi?
1:55
>> [laughter]
1:56
>> I'm I'm very confused.
1:58
I'm I'm very confused. What are Who were
2:01
any of us and why are we here?
2:03
>> Who are we? What is love? Baby, don't
2:05
[laughter] hurt me. All right, let's
2:07
talk about BlizzCon 2026.
2:10
Let's talk about BlizzCon 2026. The
2:12
Diablo
2:14
does not have a big space.
2:16
>> I I think we should
2:18
I think we should lead with the fact
2:20
that there is now a schedule for
2:22
BlizzCon 2026 and a show floor map and
2:26
all of the things, which we have been
2:27
wondering
2:29
when are you going to tell us what's
2:30
happening at BlizzCon, guys? When? Well,
2:33
the answer is now.
2:35
>> for
2:36
at least a month now, I think.
2:39
>> [laughter]
2:39
>> Well, I mean, you you got to wonder,
2:41
where's the schedule? Where's the
2:42
schedule? The schedule is now and here.
2:46
>> Unfortunately, the schedule is in one of
2:47
those really annoying running things
2:49
where I I
2:50
>> Yeah, it's it's not the easiest to read.
2:53
It's uh
2:54
It's It will try your patience.
2:57
>> most important thing that we of note
2:58
here is that at least we know that for
3:01
everything on September 12th, which is a
3:04
Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, the
3:07
opening ceremonies begin across the
3:10
board.
3:12
>> No matter where you stream or where
3:14
you're watching or I think where you are
3:16
at BlizzCon.
3:17
>> Or indeed where you are in the world.
3:19
You're going to be at home in bed and
3:21
suddenly, boom, right in your prefrontal
3:23
cortex, the opening ceremonies for
3:25
BlizzCon. Like, this is the cyberpunk
3:28
future I was
3:28
>> They they are owned by Microsoft now and
3:30
we did pass, you know, the magic Skynet
3:33
day.
3:34
Oh, boy.
3:35
>> It's going to be fantastic. But, okay.
3:39
So, let's ask like seriously though,
3:41
before we talk about the Diablo thing,
3:44
let's actually talk about how to get to
3:45
watch this at home. Because some some
3:48
people like the majority of people who
3:50
care about Blizzard games aren't going
3:52
to be able to go to BlizzCon. This is
3:54
just a fact. [clears throat]
3:55
So,
3:57
it's free. We should put that out there
3:58
right now. You don't have to pay extra
4:00
to watch BlizzCon from your device of
4:02
choice.
4:03
>> Yay!
4:05
>> That's a good thing. However, I've read
4:07
this four times and I'm still having
4:08
trouble with exactly how [laughter] I'm
4:10
going to do this. So, I'm going to turn
4:12
to Liz and Liz, both of whom I I'm sure
4:14
understand it better than me, and say,
4:16
"How do we do this again, please?"
4:20
>> Well, it's both very simple and also
4:23
needlessly complicated
4:25
because if you follow your favorite
4:27
Blizzard games on Twitch or YouTube,
4:29
that's where it's going to be.
4:32
Except if you say you want to follow
4:34
Warcraft and Diablo, those are going to
4:36
be on two different channels.
4:38
So, everything should be streaming onto
4:41
the specific game uh
4:44
YouTube and or Twitch channels.
4:47
And uh but if you're if you're wanting
4:49
to watch Warcraft, you're going to have
4:51
to switch to the Warcraft channel. And
4:52
if you want to watch Diablo, you're
4:53
going to have to switch to the Diablo
4:54
channel. If you're going to watch Heroes
4:56
of the Storm, you got to switch to the
4:57
Heroes of the Storm channel. So, it's
4:58
not like there's just one big place
5:00
where everything is anymore because back
5:03
back in the day when Blizzard did its
5:05
own sort of streaming thing, um
5:08
you know, it was just you went to the
5:09
streaming thing and you clicked the
5:10
panel you want to watch and you were
5:11
there. Well,
5:12
>> You had a handy drop-down. Yeah.
5:14
>> You had the handy drop-down. And now
5:16
it's on Twitch and YouTube, very simple
5:18
services we're already used to using.
5:21
But um but yes, it's going to be
5:24
scattered across different channels. If
5:25
you just want to follow Warcraft, great.
5:27
Turn on the Warcraft stream, done. If
5:29
you want to follow anything else, you're
5:30
going to have to
5:31
just poke around and find where it is.
5:34
Uh but uh
5:36
all this is good. This is good. And
5:38
there are
5:40
a whole lot of drops for this. If you uh
5:43
do the Twitch drops thing, if you do
5:45
YouTube drops, many drops for all of
5:49
this. And if you want to get them all, I
5:51
I don't know. I don't even know what to
5:53
tell you cuz there are bunches of them
5:55
and they're individual for each game
5:57
stream.
5:58
>> Well, it's
6:00
so it's um the multiple drops are not
6:03
uh are not
6:06
going to require you to do dedicated all
6:09
weekend because this is a weekend event
6:12
now, the 12th and 13th. Or Saturday and
6:15
Sunday. Uh you're not going to have to
6:17
watch
6:19
you know, the dedicated channel the
6:20
whole weekend.
6:24
But, you know, depending on the content
6:28
there might not be a ton going on on
6:32
that channel.
6:35
Uh other than the fact that there are
6:37
the competitive events.
6:39
Um so, for example, you know,
6:42
there's an overlap between World of
6:45
Warcraft archives and the AWC 2026 grand
6:51
fin- finals between Echo and TBD. Um
6:56
and that's, you know, Saturday at okay.
6:59
So, if I want to watch archives, does
7:02
that mean I can't watch AWC or vice
7:04
versa? So, I wonder how much of that
7:08
they've Or or just are you not able to
7:11
watch the events at all the competitive
7:12
events at all anymore? Cuz that would be
7:14
kind of a shame cuz there's some cool
7:16
stuff on the classic cup schedule.
7:19
>> I think more than likely because of the
7:21
way they're doing the stuff that they're
7:22
probably going to be available,
7:23
especially
7:25
>> Oh, yeah.
7:25
>> especially with YouTube being one of the
7:27
streaming sources, that stuff usually
7:29
gets shuffled away as a video of its own
7:31
segment later afterwards. So, you'll
7:34
still be able to go back and watch the
7:35
stuff, I'm sure. So, you're like
7:39
just like in years past, it's the the
7:41
biggest problem is it's going to be
7:43
slightly decentralized compared to what
7:46
we were used to before, but the good
7:48
news is compared to the other ones,
7:50
um
7:50
the last time I remember doing a
7:52
BlizzCon like hardcore watch and
7:54
everything through their app, uh they
7:57
were gone after like a week.
7:59
And like you couldn't get them anymore,
8:02
but with the stuff going on YouTube,
8:05
presumably,
8:07
uh they'll be available for you long
8:08
after that week is up. So, if you are
8:11
traveling the world for work or sick or
8:14
for some reason can't sit and watch your
8:16
favorite things, and you're not going to
8:18
be able to get to it within that that
8:20
week time frame, chances are good it's
8:21
still going to be there. We don't know,
8:23
again it's speculation, but it would be
8:25
very surprising if it wasn't.
8:28
>> Yeah.
8:28
>> They can they can and have, cuz they've
8:31
they've done this once or twice before,
8:32
pull stuff down. Like, for example,
8:35
um Diablo VODs
8:38
from the the dev live streams would come
8:40
down
8:41
>> Yeah.
8:41
>> uh and then get relisted on the YouTube
8:44
channel. So,
8:47
I I think we're going to have to see,
8:49
honestly.
8:51
Which doesn't feel great.
8:54
>> I mean, but it
8:55
>> I I think
8:56
>> Regardless.
8:56
>> I think on the low end it's going to be
8:58
as good as it was before. I mean, I
9:00
don't think these things are going to
9:02
immediately disappear. And for Twitch
9:04
streams, even if you
9:07
don't Twitch streams automatically stay
9:10
around for 2 weeks. So, I think that's
9:12
your absolute low low bar, is that we're
9:15
going to at least have everything for a
9:16
couple weeks.
9:18
And on the high end it could be archived
9:19
forever on YouTube, because YouTube
9:22
doesn't clearly things out. So,
9:24
>> They usually don't.
9:26
>> It's it's good. All in all, it's good.
9:28
It's maybe the schedule may be a little
9:30
confusing because of this because of how
9:32
they're doing it, but it it kind of
9:34
makes sense that if you're just
9:35
following Warcraft, you know, I know we
9:37
have we talk about Diablo, we talk about
9:40
OverWatch, we talk about other games,
9:41
but I think most of us are primarily
9:43
here for Warcraft. We play a lot of
9:45
World of Warcraft. And if all you want
9:47
to do is follow World of Warcraft, you
9:48
just have to turn on the Warcraft stream
9:50
and you're done. You're good.
9:52
>> Yeah, the only place where this isn't
9:54
kind of fits into
9:55
what we're going to talk about with
9:56
Diablo and that Diablo mortals got some
9:58
kind of long
10:00
battle between people for the cross
10:03
server
10:04
battle of realms, which is usually
10:06
massive PvP thing. Go ahead, Liz.
10:09
>> That was that's been a known event.
10:11
Although
10:12
it it's not been
10:15
widely publicized. They announced it
10:17
last week. Registration was open August
10:21
27th to August 30th and they're in the
10:23
preliminary stages now. They'll be
10:25
running the finals next week so that
10:29
they can do the elimination stage. I
10:33
almost said on prim. On stage.
10:36
>> [laughter]
10:37
>> I just want to say thanks. Thanks.
10:39
>> specific reasons.
10:41
>> [laughter]
10:42
>> The job shows up in weird ways.
10:45
So it it it is a PvP event. It's
10:48
basically a tournament and
10:51
they didn't really like broadly
10:54
publicize it.
10:56
And the gameplay windows are not huge
11:00
either. So you know, you're talking
11:02
couple of days. So you know, this is
11:05
this is a format that they've done
11:07
before, but
11:10
I can't it does make me wonder like I
11:13
don't think that takes
11:16
two full days of stage ownership barring
11:22
there is an art panel, I think.
11:24
>> Well, there's also the developer update
11:27
on the main
11:27
>> not it's
11:29
>> It's on the main stage. not
11:30
>> the Diablo stage. The other the
11:32
that I was going to say is that the main
11:34
stage is kind of the exception to the
11:36
whole if you want to just see Warcraft,
11:38
just watch Warcraft. I'm not saying they
11:40
won't put that state main stage stuff on
11:42
the Warcraft channel, but it does not
11:44
going to put the Diablo one there.
11:46
>> They're going to put the Diablo one on
11:47
the Diablo channel. So
11:49
>> Yeah, it's not going to be there's
11:50
there's not any place you can sit and
11:51
watch the main stage.
11:52
>> I'm sorry. I have to
11:54
I have to comment this cuz every time
11:55
you guys say Diablo and I don't know why
11:57
but it's specifically at BlizzCon, I
11:59
just hear Deckard Cain in my head,
12:01
"Diablo!" Every time.
12:04
I'm sorry.
12:05
>> Are you a bliss? Yes.
12:07
Are you are you okay, Joe?
12:09
>> No, not even close.
12:10
>> okay here? Oh,
12:11
we'll just check.
12:12
>> I'm sorry that now you've caused me to
12:13
have to tell this story. My wife and I
12:15
have like been playing video games,
12:17
especially Blizzard video games, for the
12:18
entirety of our relationship before we
12:20
were even married. I proposed to my wife
12:22
in a Molten Core run.
12:24
After she actually she proposed to me
12:26
and I didn't catch it. And then we were
12:28
in the middle of like
12:29
>> [laughter]
12:30
>> Molten Core and I was like, "Wait a
12:31
minute. Was that When you said you
12:32
wanted to get married, was that what
12:33
that was?" So anyway,
12:35
uh we've been run we've been playing
12:37
Diablo. We played Diablo II each of us
12:39
played it separately. Diablo we play
12:41
together to this day.
12:43
Uh in the in the year of the fell drink,
12:45
you know, the Lord of Terror,
12:47
2026, we we still play Diablo together.
12:51
I play a lot of Diablo IV as well on my
12:52
own. She doesn't play Diablo IV. She
12:54
doesn't like it cuz they don't have
12:55
Demon Hunters.
12:56
Um
12:57
>> Regardless, that's her.
12:58
>> whenever we see a treasure goblin,
13:01
uh my wife immediately goes, "Der
13:02
Bablo!"
13:04
That's
13:04
That's what we call Diablo. The game
13:07
Diablo is Der Bablo for us.
13:09
>> It's It's um
13:10
>> the treasure goblins. And because of
13:12
this, Liz once said, "Hey Matt, do you
13:14
think you could write an article about
13:16
treasure goblins?" And she This was um
13:19
through text, so she didn't hear me make
13:21
the noise. I went, "Der Bablos?" Cuz
13:24
[laughter] that's what we call the
13:25
treasure goblins, Der Bablos.
13:27
Um so there's an article on the site
13:30
called always be hitting goblins.
13:32
And And you made this out derbablos?
13:35
Yeah, it's about derbablos. It It is
13:38
>> Oh, that's fantastic.
13:40
>> derbablos. Diablo is on it just That's
13:42
what I hear anytime anyone says Diablo
13:46
is I hear derbablo.
13:48
Like I have to stop myself.
13:49
>> I will I will note I will note because
13:52
yes, we're I think we're kind of
13:55
disappointed and like the especially
13:57
because they you know, I feel like the
13:59
developers have been saying
14:01
make sure you make it to BlizzCon with
14:03
the same tone they said make sure you
14:04
make it to the game awards last year.
14:08
They I don't
14:10
I don't feel like they've stressed it
14:11
quite that much and also they have
14:14
gotten bitten by this before by over
14:17
hyping a BlizzCon. They've gotten bitten
14:20
>> [laughter]
14:21
>> by over hyping BlizzCon. But it's
14:24
important it's important to note, I know
14:26
it's not nearly as lengthy of a
14:28
franchise, they have the exact same
14:33
panel amount as Hearthstone.
14:36
So they have two art panels and two
14:41
dev panels. Hearthstone is the exact
14:43
same balance.
14:46
So and honestly Overwatch only has five.
14:49
So I really the
14:52
it's it's wow that's getting the the the
14:55
big the big eyeballs so to speak and
14:58
Blizzard.
14:59
>> Which makes sense, right? Because like
15:01
of of all the games that they're
15:02
producing right now,
15:04
uh literally the one that is the most
15:06
consistent and has the the biggest road
15:08
map right now is World of Warcraft.
15:12
>> Absolutely.
15:13
>> Right?
15:13
>> Yeah.
15:14
>> Like we we know what the next expansion
15:16
is at least in name.
15:18
Um there's like tons of stuff to talk
15:20
about with it. The design philosophy has
15:23
shifted uh between just the last
15:26
expansion from the war within to
15:27
midnight and even within midnight. They
15:30
have so much art direction change
15:32
they've done, storytelling like there's
15:34
literally a panel about collaborative
15:36
storytelling through their games,
15:37
[clears throat] right? These are this is
15:39
not by accident. Go ahead.
15:41
>> That one seems really interesting to me
15:44
because I am not the biggest fan of
15:46
Warcraft stories, but I also think the
15:47
biggest challenge I mean that part
15:49
that's part of the genre and the biggest
15:52
challenge that this faces is it's a big
15:55
collaborative story that's been told
15:58
over decades by hundreds or thousands of
16:02
different people contributing to this
16:03
story and it's hard. It's hard to keep
16:05
it together like that. So I'm I'm very
16:08
curious about that panel in particular.
16:10
>> Yeah. And and and storytelling has
16:12
shifted for it because of sensibilities,
16:13
right? It's an MMO um
16:15
and and like we've gone from story being
16:18
primarily done through outside the game
16:20
which was early early while like you had
16:23
your books, you had your comics, you had
16:25
all of these things that informed the
16:26
story of the world and then the game
16:28
sort of caught up afterwards
16:30
uh to the focus being shifted to
16:32
primarily being driven by in-game events
16:34
and in-game storytelling
16:36
uh then to a hybrid model and then now
16:38
we're sort of back to like this thing
16:40
where um it's all one consistent
16:44
uh vision across all media.
16:47
Uh successful or unsuccessful is a whole
16:49
other story, but the game informs the
16:52
books, the books act as bridges for the
16:54
games, other media that potentially gets
16:56
made for it will do the same thing.
16:59
And like and it involves a whole group
17:01
of people now that it wasn't just like
17:03
one person
17:05
in the early days of wow going, I really
17:07
want this to be the story and then
17:08
another guy going, yeah, let's do that
17:10
and then somebody else going, well, what
17:11
if we do this story, too?
17:12
Um it's a huge team and it's also sort
17:15
of I don't want to say decentralized,
17:17
but
17:18
it switched, right? Like they have their
17:20
historians, I think still. I don't
17:22
remember correctly, but a lot of the
17:23
people that started as historians have
17:25
moved on to like quest team and
17:28
storytelling and like it's integrated in
17:31
the quest teams now as well. There's a
17:34
lot of shift in it. So like it's
17:37
it makes sense that it just has so many
17:39
panels. And if I don't see Anne on stage
17:41
at some point, I will be very sad. I'm
17:43
looking at you, Anne.
17:43
>> you mean. I think we all will.
17:45
>> I don't want to make [laughter] this too
17:46
financial,
17:47
but it it was recently, I think we
17:49
talked about this last week or the week
17:50
before,
17:52
right now World of Warcraft is
17:53
considered the standout for Blizzard and
17:56
the Xbox games, "Oh, you made money for
17:59
us." thing they did. Blizzard Blizzard's
18:02
biggest game, the one that And by the
18:04
way, when I say Xbox games, I don't mean
18:05
games on the Xbox. That's what Microsoft
18:08
calls their R games. Yeah. Yeah.
18:11
Um but that's their that's the big
18:14
Blizzard entertainment game. It's it's
18:16
WoW. WoW is generating the most revenue.
18:19
I mean, Diablo IV and Heart Not
18:22
Hearthstone, oh my god. And Overwatch
18:24
both did good years last year because of
18:26
like, you know, this 2026 had
18:29
>> Overwatch was wildly successful.
18:32
>> Yeah. So it's not saying that other
18:34
games aren't successful, but WoW was the
18:36
one that's successful like a like a
18:38
truck that just keeps making deliveries
18:40
on time. Uh I think Liz, you pointed
18:43
this out that it's got, you know, it's
18:45
been regular year over year now.
18:47
Possibly the most regular game aside
18:50
from Hearthstone, which is their most
18:52
regular game. Hearthstone is straight up
18:54
just on clockwork.
18:55
>> Oh, yeah. Warcraft is astonishingly
18:57
consistent in content rollouts to the
19:00
point where I think a lot of us are
19:02
maybe a little tired about getting a
19:05
patch every 8 weeks. Not that I don't
19:07
want to say
19:09
I don't want to say getting new content
19:11
is bad, but sometimes it hits 8 weeks
19:14
and I'm like I'm I didn't need another
19:16
event where I collect bobbles of void to
19:21
make new void currencies to buy a
19:24
cosmetic that's the same as a cosmetic I
19:26
already have except now it's purple and
19:29
I did spend weeks and weeks gathering up
19:33
tens of thousands of void light moral to
19:35
buy every class set in purple and I kind
19:38
of regret regret those hours that I will
19:41
never see again.
19:42
Yeah.
19:44
But yes, they've they've really nailed a
19:46
consistent 8-week schedule for content.
19:50
I don't know if that's always the best
19:52
for the game, but they are consistent
19:55
and doing that consistent schedules
19:56
means you keep subscribers. It means you
19:59
keep people in game spending money.
20:03
And I mean, that's what's that's why
20:05
it's so good for Hearthstone has, you
20:07
know, three expansions a year and that
20:10
means three battle passes plus their
20:13
three
20:14
uh
20:15
battlegrounds battle passes, which is
20:17
totally different game mode with its own
20:19
battle pass and their three sets of
20:21
class sets. They used to do mini sets,
20:23
but now they're doing class sets, which
20:25
are give you class specific cards, but
20:27
they seem to be doing that on the same
20:29
timetable. So,
20:30
it's all about the consistency and of
20:32
course in Diablo 4,
20:35
uh we do see a new season every uh about
20:39
once a quarter, every 3 months.
20:41
>> Roughly. It's It's actually been
20:43
variable lately.
20:45
>> It has been a little variable, but it's
20:46
pretty consistent and with that you have
20:49
a new battle pass and you always have
20:51
new cosmetics and new collabs and of
20:53
course even between that schedule,
20:56
it it gets a little erratic here when
20:59
you look at new cosmetic rollouts
21:01
because those can kind of happen
21:02
anytime. I haven't seen kind of a rhyme
21:04
or reason to that schedule. Maybe it's
21:07
there and I haven't divined it, but it's
21:09
all about
21:11
continuing to put stuff out, continuing
21:14
to keep players in the game, and if
21:15
players are in the game, they're
21:17
thinking about spending money in the
21:18
game. That's That's how you get them.
21:20
That's how you get them.
21:21
>> Yeah, it's okay because, you know, we
21:24
we've got a club coming up at that I I
21:28
suspect will be associated with um
21:32
possibly Matt's favorite panel of of the
21:35
coming BlizzCon because it's
21:39
30 years of Battle.net with special
21:41
guest CD Projekt Red?
21:44
>> I mean, that one we all kind of
21:45
understand that there's at least some of
21:48
it we understand. We know that they're
21:49
doing a thing with Diablo.
21:51
For
21:51
>> Yep.
21:51
>> They're
21:53
They're doing a thing with The Witcher.
21:55
>> Yeah, and The Witcher is also going
21:56
Well, The Witcher is the Diablo skins as
21:58
well. They're also going to be have
22:00
Witcher the the new complete Witcher
22:02
remaster and the DLC when it comes out.
22:04
Uh but I think actually the DLC's out,
22:07
isn't it?
22:08
>> No, it's not. It's next I I think it's
22:10
really next year.
22:11
>> Yeah, so
22:12
>> Sorry, yes. Thank you, Liz. Words are
22:14
hard, guys.
22:14
>> The DLC's coming out next year, and then
22:16
at some future date we're going to have
22:18
The Witcher 4.
22:19
Uh yeah, your guess is as good as mine,
22:21
but when that comes out, it's going to
22:22
be on the Battle.net launcher.
22:25
>> They have not said that.
22:26
>> Yeah, I'm That's That's what
22:28
>> I mean, in the week
22:29
No, I thought I thought they had said
22:31
that.
22:32
>> Oh.
22:33
>> I might be wrong, but I could have they
22:35
said it would be in the Battle.net
22:36
launcher.
22:37
>> I I know they said three.
22:39
The remaster would be. They didn't say
22:40
anything about
22:41
>> the the remaster because it's part of
22:43
the whole bit with the DLC is also part
22:45
of that.
22:46
>> We are speculating with good within good
22:48
reason to believe that four will be on
22:50
the launcher if three is.
22:52
>> Yeah.
22:53
I
22:54
>> Good clarification.
22:56
>> I mean, it's
22:57
They did hint strongly that more to
22:59
come. We've got more to come.
23:01
>> Well, we we
23:03
we I mean we know that they're going to
23:04
be at BlizzCon, right? They're going to
23:06
be part of the 30 years of Battle.net.
23:07
>> pa-
23:08
There's a panel with their name in it,
23:10
and it seems
23:12
This is such a weird one to me that it's
23:14
a 30 years of Battle.net with the CD
23:17
Projekt Red CD Projekt Red hasn't
23:20
>> We're not actually part of
23:22
>> for
23:23
30 years. It seems It seems odd that
23:25
we're celebrating the 30th anniversary
23:27
for someone who's just come and joined
23:29
us this year.
23:30
>> Yeah. Well, I mean you you could look at
23:32
it as, you know, we we did this cool
23:34
thing for 30 years, and as a as a treat,
23:37
you can have some CD Projekt Red, you
23:39
know, as a treat.
23:41
>> And it's
23:41
>> I want to just make sure I went and
23:42
looked and it's on the the Battle.net
23:45
page that this will be happening. The
23:48
three, not four.
23:49
But the complete thing, three and three
23:51
with the with the expansion, both on
23:54
They're both there right now. They are
23:55
on the website. I don't think you can
23:57
get them yet because they're not out
23:59
yet.
23:59
>> But I I believe the three remasters on
24:03
September 27th, so end of the month.
24:06
>> But regardless,
24:08
um
24:09
I I like that panel the idea of it, but
24:12
let's be up front. The only reason I
24:15
like it is because I'm hoping
24:16
desperately they will announce that
24:19
Cyberpunk is getting a DLC at BlizzCon
24:21
cuz why not at this point? I don't care
24:23
who tells me welcome. I just want them
24:25
to give it to me.
24:26
>> They're more But you know, Matt, they're
24:28
more likely to announce that, "Hey,
24:30
here's another platform on which you can
24:32
buy Cyberpunk 2077
24:35
because you're not going to be able to
24:37
play a Steam copy on Battle.net. You're
24:40
going to have to buy an all new copy,
24:41
which is also where they get you with
24:43
Diablo IV."
24:44
>> mean to be fair To be fair though, the
24:46
the CD Projekt Red anything you interact
24:49
like you
24:50
install for them like even if you
24:52
install on Steam, it launches their
24:54
launcher. So, I'm fairly confident that
24:57
it'll be essentially the same thing
24:59
where like your battle.net account uh
25:02
you can integrate it with your CD
25:04
Projekt Red account, probably something
25:05
like that. But when it's when it's on
25:07
the launcher when you go to play the
25:08
game, it's not going to launch from
25:09
battle.net. It's going to launch the CD
25:11
Projekt Red launcher and then you'll go
25:13
into the game. That's cuz that's how the
25:15
the layers are.
25:16
>> that's how both Steam and GOG work.
25:19
I have GOG Galaxy. I don't I don't have
25:21
I actually do have Steam now. That's
25:23
right, I do. Uh Steam both Steam and GOG
25:26
pull up the battle the launcher
25:29
>> CD Projekt Red launcher.
25:30
>> which is just like the Larian launcher
25:33
in that it is very heavily influenced by
25:36
battle.net. Let's just say that. Um it's
25:39
it's kind of like launchers and then
25:40
more launchers and yet more launchers.
25:42
Like, how many launchers do I need?
25:43
>> To be fair, I'm also pretty confident
25:45
that people that were developers for
25:47
Blizzard at one point that worked on the
25:48
battle.net team that existed 10 years
25:50
ago may or may not have worked for both
25:52
of those companies at some point.
25:54
>> Oh, I'm sure. I know for a fact that
25:56
EA's Origin launcher, remember that
25:58
thing? That was by like the first that
26:01
was by the teams that were let go by
26:03
Blizzard.
26:04
>> Well, here crazy crazy tinfoil hat.
26:08
Tinfoil hat out out out
26:11
wherever it comes out of. Um
26:14
30 years
26:15
>> them on my head, but you know, you do
26:17
you.
26:18
>> Well, I was going to say out the wazoo
26:20
and there's a line from Futurama
26:23
that that is it integrates that word. Uh
26:26
but could they be phasing out CD Projekt
26:31
Red's
26:33
dedicated launcher?
26:34
>> No, I don't think so.
26:35
>> Like, it just seems so weird to have
26:37
them in 30 years of battle.net.
26:40
>> It is weird, but it's just a way to get
26:42
more people that both games are can can
26:45
get something out of this.
26:46
>> I
26:47
>> For CD Projekt Red, it's just more
26:48
people looking at it.
26:49
>> I also straight up
26:50
>> That's totally fair.
26:51
>> I agree with that. I agree with that
26:53
wholeheartedly and I also think that
26:54
it's it's
26:55
also a show of solidarity because one of
26:58
the things that I think we've talked
26:59
about before and I think Larian and CD
27:00
Projekt Red as companies are likely on
27:03
board with this is that things shouldn't
27:06
be isolated. Just because you buy your
27:09
games on Steam or play your games on one
27:12
particular launcher doesn't mean you
27:13
should be locked out of accessing it
27:15
through other ways. And so integrating
27:17
with other services like potentially
27:19
Battle.net and linking your accounts and
27:21
having your progress follow you opens it
27:23
up for everybody, right? And makes
27:26
>> it makes it more viable for it. It also
27:28
allows you to do crossover stuff a lot
27:31
more easily.
27:32
>> Yep.
27:32
>> Right? Like
27:33
>> Also
27:34
I I I will share um since Matt shared a
27:39
a partner story, uh
27:40
I'm going to share a partner story real
27:42
quick. Uh you know, we're we're all
27:44
sitting here discussing 30 years of
27:45
Battle.net and my my partner was was in
27:48
the kitchen came over to me and said
27:52
this is a direct quote with intonation
27:55
"Did you just say
27:58
30 years of Battle.net?"
28:02
And then I saw the light leave their
28:04
eyes.
28:05
>> Yeah.
28:06
>> Yeah, I'm sorry. 1997.
28:09
Uh so
28:10
>> Oh no, don't don't make it worse.
28:13
>> Maybe not actually 30 years yet, but
28:16
within just a couple of months one.
28:19
>> So yeah.
28:20
Yeah. I actually think it was '96 now
28:22
that I think about it. So I think 30
28:23
years is actually accurate.
28:25
Oh boy, I back just popped. Anyway,
28:28
we've talked a lot about this and it's
28:30
cool and we didn't none of us have
28:32
actually speculated on what we're going
28:33
to see. So we're going to go around the
28:35
thing here and we're going to get some
28:37
speculation going. Uh I'm going to go
28:39
first to Liz P.
28:41
>> Which one?
28:42
>> I Liz P.
28:43
>> Yo.
28:44
>> We don't have two Liz P's. Don't do this
28:46
to me, Chuck. The other one's Liz Prime.
28:49
>> She is Liz Prime.
28:50
>> I would have said Prime then.
28:51
>> She's Liz to Miss Prime.
28:54
>> [laughter]
28:55
>> I'm pausing for a moment.
28:57
Okay.
28:59
So, my speculation is that we are going
29:02
to get the the world's most last-minute
29:06
uh review of Diablo 4 season 15's
29:10
details, including the reveal of the
29:13
skins for the Witcher collab.
29:19
>> Okay.
29:20
Um
29:21
Liz Prime.
29:23
>> I mean, I think that's uh a pretty easy
29:26
guess because uh you know, there was a
29:29
lot of wondering, okay, is there going
29:30
to be a Diablo 5?
29:33
>> There's not going to be Diablo 5
29:35
announcement, guys.
29:35
>> Not in two dev streams, there's not.
29:39
Yes, so there just aren't
29:42
They don't have enough hours on the
29:43
schedule.
29:44
Um
29:45
what I think is really missing from the
29:47
schedule, and what I think we are going
29:49
to see slotted in quietly somewhere, is
29:53
uh Wild Classic.
29:54
There's nothing really specific to
29:56
Classic on the schedule, and the rumors
29:59
are swirling big about a Classic Plus
30:04
coming to the game. So, I think it's
30:06
pretty typical. When we have a BlizzCon,
30:08
we get the schedule, and it's like,
30:10
well, you know, there's space where you
30:11
could do some other things. I can see
30:13
some panels that you might want to do
30:15
that aren't here. Um
30:18
I I have a feeling that this is actually
30:20
going to be even more Warcraft heavy
30:22
than it looks right now, and we're going
30:24
to get some more some panels talking
30:25
about Classic Plus, or that some of the
30:27
panels that are generic World of
30:29
Warcraft panels are going to be about
30:30
Classic. So,
30:33
that's That's my prediction, and uh
30:36
that That's It's an easy prediction, so
30:38
>> [laughter]
30:39
>> Uh
30:40
so, I I don't feel like I'm showing a
30:41
lot of foresight, but I think if
30:43
anything we're going to see more
30:44
Warcraft this year. And I I'm I am a
30:47
little disappointed that there's not
30:49
something something for Diablo, but it
30:51
seems like
30:53
yeah, we're just going to get the next
30:54
season because the season starts
30:56
2 days after BlizzCon.
30:59
I we already know a lot about it.
31:01
>> Yeah, I think one of those dev panels
31:03
will be the surprise because there's you
31:06
don't need two dev panels for one
31:07
season, but yeah, absolutely.
31:11
>> But they
31:12
but hmm I I do wonder do they have a
31:15
secret they're holding out? Is it a
31:18
secret I actually care about? I don't
31:19
know.
31:21
>> Let's just want some Amazons.
31:23
>> I just want Amazons. I want a shadow
31:24
drop of Amazons like they did with
31:26
Paladins. You do that
31:28
you do that and I will be very happy,
31:30
but I I'm not going to hold my breath
31:33
because I need to breathe to live.
31:35
>> That's fair. Um for everyone listening,
31:38
you do need to breathe to live if as
31:40
long as you're human.
31:42
I know that there are fish technically
31:45
they they breathe in a different way,
31:46
but regardless. Uh now Joe Prime.
31:50
>> I was going to say Amazons are going to
31:52
get announced because that feels like
31:55
something that would be in line with
31:57
BlizzCon, doesn't need a whole lot of
31:59
dev panel time, and would be just about
32:02
as much excitement, but I think that's
32:04
going to be part of the opening
32:05
ceremonies. Um and then they'll and then
32:08
they'll likely talk about it later. Uh
32:10
mostly because I think everybody was
32:12
very surprised that Amazons weren't
32:14
announced on the Amazon expansion.
32:16
Um
32:17
>> Yeah.
32:17
>> And like it feel
32:20
feels like it was a deliberate choice.
32:23
Uh so, I wouldn't be surprised if that's
32:25
the big Diablo announcement for
32:27
BlizzCon. Uh World of Warcraft is going
32:29
to be the darling as we've all talked
32:31
about.
32:32
Uh it's one of those things where
32:35
um
32:36
I agree with you. I think we're going to
32:37
get some wild classic stuff that's going
32:39
to come out of nowhere
32:41
and I think that's intentional. I think
32:42
that there it's a level of
32:44
anticipatory hype. They've learned their
32:47
lesson in the past about trying to over
32:48
hype something in advance and they don't
32:50
know how it's going to be received but
32:52
also the
32:53
the speculation
32:55
of a classic plus is not exactly without
32:57
merit
32:59
and it would fall in line with the dev
33:01
cycle that we've seen for wild classic
33:04
and some of the things they've been
33:05
testing with it. So would not be
33:06
terribly surprising especially because
33:08
it is a popular product
33:11
and as far as the regular
33:13
World of Warcraft stuff goes I think a
33:15
couple things are going to happen.
33:17
One we're going to get a preview of the
33:19
next tier. That's just something
33:22
that is going to happen. We're it's
33:24
inevitable but I do think there's going
33:26
to be a lot of emphasis on two things in
33:29
particular. One
33:31
we're going to see a lot of stuff in
33:32
particular about the wild housing system
33:35
and the nuts and bolts of it.
33:37
Mostly how it's worked the failures and
33:38
successes upcoming changes to it and how
33:42
they're going to add stuff to it and
33:43
improve upon it. There is literally a
33:45
whole panel set aside for like it's like
33:48
cozy corner something.
33:50
I can't remember the exact name of it. I
33:51
don't feel like pulling up the schedule
33:52
again but it feels like it's perfectly
33:54
in line with that but I do think we're
33:56
going to see like big changes coming to
33:58
it because I think that's a huge part of
34:01
player experience now and I'm not just
34:03
saying that as somebody who has sunk a
34:05
million gold into their housing plot.
34:06
[laughter]
34:08
Um
34:09
but I do think that that's something
34:10
that's coming
34:11
and I do think that we're also going to
34:14
get a lot of stuff on the last Titan at
34:17
least the opening salvo for it. What
34:20
it's going to be about the like things
34:22
that they're going to talk about moving
34:24
into it. I don't think they're going to
34:25
do a whole ton of it like they're not
34:28
going to do with the big reveal but they
34:29
are going to talk about it where they
34:31
want this expansion to end and where
34:33
they want to move into the next
34:34
expansion. Um I do think that's going to
34:36
be something cuz again, keeping that
34:38
sort of consistent trickle of hype going
34:40
for the content, especially when we're,
34:43
you know, we are exactly midway through
34:46
if this is the second of a third raid
34:48
tier in the current expansion. We are
34:50
exactly midway through the trilogy of
34:52
expansions,
34:53
right? It's the perfect time to really
34:55
start talking about that cuz that's what
34:57
they did with uh with Midnight. We got
34:59
to patch We got to the second raid tier
35:01
and they started talking about Midnight.
35:04
And so we're on the second raid tier, I
35:06
suspect we're going to start hearing
35:07
about uh that. And then one last thing
35:10
that I'm going to throw out there
35:11
because I can feel Corey vibrating
35:13
through the aether
35:15
uh with with the hopium. The hopium is
35:16
strong, it connects us.
35:18
I do think that they're going to talk
35:20
about their games that are in
35:22
maintenance mode.
35:23
I think that we're going to hear more
35:25
about plans for that moving forward
35:28
because it seems like they've been
35:30
putting more dev time into those games
35:32
than we would have expected and I don't
35:34
think that's without a reason.
35:37
And I think that maybe at Microsoft's
35:39
behest, uh which I'm not going to be mad
35:42
at if it is,
35:43
but I would not be surprised if we hear
35:45
more about and I'm just going to call
35:47
them specialty games at this point
35:49
because I think that fits better.
35:52
Um especially with League of Legends
35:54
getting a resurgence,
35:56
I could see them saying, "By the way,
35:57
active development has begun again on
35:59
Heroes of the Storm. Welcome Heroes of
36:01
the Storm 2.0." And then moving on. Uh
36:05
and
36:05
>> Hi.
36:06
>> I'm going to just add a few that you
36:07
should also
36:08
Sorry.
36:09
>> If you're going to talk about this, you
36:10
should mention that they're doing a
36:11
classic cup for Heroes of the Storm and
36:15
they're doing custodian of legacy games.
36:17
>> Yes.
36:18
>> Talking about the development
36:19
communities for for these various games.
36:22
So they are talking more about it. I'm
36:25
going to throw in my predictions and it
36:27
they're kind of simple.
36:29
Remember we just got done talking about
36:30
how weird it was that we're having a 30
36:32
years of Battle.net, and they're they're
36:35
doing a Witcher tie-in to Diablo and
36:38
maybe the Witcher game on the launcher.
36:40
I'm going to point out a game
36:42
that actually has a real reason to be
36:44
discussed in a 30 years of Battle.net,
36:46
namely the original Diablo, which
36:49
launched with Battle.net
36:52
>> Mhm.
36:53
>> in January of 1997.
36:55
>> Oh, interesting.
36:58
>> of
36:59
of Diablo, the original Diablo, is going
37:02
to be the 30th anniversary of
37:03
Battle.net, which is going to be January
37:06
of 2027.
37:10
And there is not currently a version of
37:14
Diablo that will run natively on modern
37:18
computers without some serious problems.
37:21
And I say this is the guy who owns the
37:23
version that GOG put out a couple years
37:25
back. And it it for the most part runs
37:27
fine. Every so often my computer forgets
37:29
that it is compared to the computer from
37:31
1997,
37:33
it is an alien god and runs the thing at
37:36
like 3,000 frames per second. Uh
37:39
occasionally like I've actually had the
37:41
the game get stuck in a loop where it
37:44
like ends and begins and ends and begins
37:47
because the computer is too fast for it.
37:49
>> Yeah.
37:49
>> So, at some point, you figure something
37:52
might get done with Diablo, the original
37:55
Diablo. Something like a remaster
37:59
on its 30th anniversary.
38:02
>> I it would make a lot of sense.
38:03
>> I agree. That would make a whole lot of
38:05
sense.
38:05
>> I am
38:06
>> It would also be wildly exciting for a
38:08
lot of people, I think.
38:10
>> I am not confident enough to say this
38:11
because quite frankly, I think it's an
38:13
amazingly good idea,
38:15
and [clears throat] Microsoft is not a
38:17
place I go to for amazingly good ideas.
38:20
Uh but I will say that
38:22
if they don't do this, they're not just
38:24
leaving money on the table, they're
38:26
leaving This would pop.
38:29
People would go insane. This would be
38:31
the opposite of a certain BlizzCon
38:33
reveal of a Diablo game from a few years
38:35
back. We all know which one I'm talking
38:36
about.
38:37
>> And if they said it was a downloadable
38:39
and playable for free on battle.net
38:42
Can you imagine how
38:44
>> if it was a day one reveal or
38:46
>> Yeah. You know what You know what it
38:47
would be even You even better? By the
38:49
way, here's a remaster. It's free. By
38:52
the way, remember that expansion that we
38:53
planned and never actually released?
38:55
Here you go.
38:57
>> Ooh. You just want that.
38:58
>> the files for it.
39:00
>> I They We know that We know they have
39:02
the files for it. Fans Fans had them
39:04
forever. Sierra had it, right?
39:06
>> Yeah. So, what You know, could you could
39:08
totally see a remaster. And Blizzard I
39:10
mean, Blizzard when it You know, before
39:12
Microsoft bought it, they went and
39:14
bought Vicarious Visions to do
39:17
remasters.
39:18
>> Yeah.
39:19
>> That's That's absolutely
39:20
>> Diablo II Resurrected, you Vicarious
39:22
Visions, those guys That's their team.
39:25
Do you know they could do Diablo?
39:27
It's in every way it would be easier to
39:29
do.
39:30
>> Not just could do, but what else have
39:32
they been working on lately?
39:34
>> Yeah, that's a good question. I don't
39:35
have an answer for it.
39:36
So, that's my
39:38
kind of pulling it out of my butt, but
39:40
that's my thing.
39:42
That is what I think.
39:43
If they don't do it, they should have
39:45
done it.
39:46
>> at this point because we have We have a
39:48
little bit of time before it comes out.
39:49
And then when we do our BlizzCon post
39:50
show,
39:51
because we will, we always do,
39:54
and it will be a glorious multi-hour
39:56
thing cuz that's what we do.
39:58
We'll be seeing how right we are. Cuz
40:01
again, like there's there's there's dead
40:03
space. And I understand that conventions
40:06
have dead space, but there's a lot of it
40:08
versus what there usually is.
40:09
>> The Diablo stage in particular feels
40:12
like almost like tumbleweeds across the
40:15
board.
40:15
>> sharing space though, isn't it?
40:17
>> Yeah.
40:18
>> Hang on. Let me say this.
40:20
Let me cut in here because, while they
40:22
say Diablo has a
40:24
stage,
40:26
imagine the quotation marks around that
40:28
if I did not make them sufficiently
40:30
obvious. Well, it has a stage. It is
40:35
it is not a stage. It is smaller than
40:38
the Heroes of It's It shares a hall with
40:40
Heroes of the Storm, but for Heroes of
40:43
the Storm has 2/3 of the space in that
40:46
Wait. Hold on a second.
40:47
>> shares with Hall A, yeah.
40:48
And
40:50
>> Okay,
40:51
>> [laughter]
40:51
>> my body's vibrating.
40:53
>> I will say that the Diablo stage is
40:57
about the same size as the Heroes of the
40:59
Storm demo area,
41:01
which you can take that in whichever
41:03
direction you want, but it doesn't say
41:05
much for the size of the Diablo stage.
41:08
The Diablo area is incredibly small for
41:11
a main line Blizzard game. And the stage
41:15
is almost
41:16
The stage is almost entirely devoted to
41:18
this Immortal event, which, on, you
41:21
know, Liz, you talked about a minute
41:22
ago, that's more than I had any
41:24
knowledge of, because on on the BlizzCon
41:28
schedule, it just says Immortal event.
41:30
That's it.
41:30
>> What? Well, hold on a second. Hold on a
41:32
second. Hold on a second. Hold on a
41:32
second. Hold on a second. What if it's
41:34
not actually about Diablo Immortal?
41:37
>> Hm?
41:38
>> I mean, we do know that they have an
41:40
event, though.
41:41
>> Right.
41:42
>> on a It's Even if it's not about Diablo
41:44
Immortal, it is still on an itty-bitty,
41:46
teeny-tiny stage the size of a folding
41:48
table.
41:50
>> Uh I mean, you're saying that, but
41:51
that's not actually the case. Like, it
41:52
is a small stage, but it is not a
41:54
folding table.
41:56
>> It It may be two folding tables. I I
41:58
mean, you know, when we think about
42:00
those
42:00
>> They're sharing They're sharing Hall
42:03
what?
42:03
>> B.
42:04
>> B, right? It's the same size as the
42:07
classic up if you look at it. It's not
42:09
as big as World of Warcraft, which is
42:10
deeper, but I remember the Anaheim
42:13
Convention Center. It's about the same
42:14
size as the Classic Cup stage.
42:17
So, like, it's not
42:18
>> It's not. It's not because it's not on
42:20
the stage.
42:22
>> Okay.
42:24
>> I I mean, it has its own little area,
42:26
but it's not
42:28
it's not on the big stage in the hall.
42:31
It's just a little
42:33
>> Yeah, well
42:33
>> It's a little It's a little space out
42:36
out in the hall, not on the big stage in
42:37
the hall.
42:38
>> It's Yeah, I'm just looking at the
42:39
footprint. So, for those of you at home,
42:41
um if you look at the map, and I believe
42:42
we have it posted on the website, it
42:44
looks like the footprint of it is it
42:47
definitely bleeds out into the main hall
42:51
or the main like thoroughfare area,
42:52
which is not uncommon. Um but, I guess
42:56
we'll see when it happens. I'm really
42:57
curious
42:58
uh because it looks like Go ahead.
43:01
>> I was going to say, interestingly
43:02
enough, if you look at the Classic Cup
43:06
Hall A section, there are spots for
43:10
Diablo 1, 2, and 3 demo.
43:13
>> Diablo 1, 2, and 3 demo, Warcraft 3
43:15
demo, Heroes of the Storm demo.
43:18
>> Those are also very small spots on the
43:20
map.
43:21
>> They are very small spots, but it's very
43:23
interesting. Like, if you have that
43:25
there, you could just as easily say,
43:27
"Hey, we're actually over here."
43:30
>> Yeah, and and we're we're and we're
43:31
talking about small relative to space
43:33
allocated for other things. It's still a
43:35
huge location and a huge event, right?
43:38
So.
43:39
>> Yeah, for For anyone that hasn't been to
43:41
the Anaheim Convention Center, which I
43:42
think at this point all of us have, you
43:45
know, these and and BlizzCon has grown
43:47
over the years to the point where they
43:49
actually are taking up a good chunk of
43:51
the second floor now, too.
43:52
>> Well
43:53
>> This is
43:54
a large space.
43:56
>> The convention center has expanded since
43:58
they started doing
43:58
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
43:59
That's part of what I meant. The
44:00
convention center has expanded, and
44:02
they've also expanded with it. Sorry. Um
44:06
so, it it's it's definitely there's you
44:10
know there's some
44:14
confusion of scale here I would say.
44:18
Interestingly enough there's also a
44:20
BlizzCon net 30th anniversary photo op
44:22
location.
44:24
>> Yeah, I
44:24
>> That could just
44:26
>> I think this is going to be a wild
44:28
BlizzCon of weird stuff that are that's
44:31
unexpected. I just I have that feeling.
44:34
>> Yeah.
44:35
>> Like like again
44:36
>> one under the new management, right?
44:37
>> It is.
44:38
>> Yes, it is.
44:40
And frankly because of the new
44:42
management I've
44:43
I personally suspect this is the last
44:45
BlizzCon we'll see.
44:47
Because
44:48
we're part of Microsoft now. Microsoft
44:50
is cutting costs and cutting corners and
44:52
BlizzCon is a big expensive event. And I
44:55
think to see BlizzCons after this
44:57
BlizzCon either needs to be co-opted by
45:00
other things so it can be bigger than
45:02
Blizzard
45:03
or it needs to get a lot smaller and
45:05
cheaper to run because this is this is
45:08
massive. Even charging what they do for
45:10
tickets this is a massive expense for
45:12
Blizzard.
45:12
>> It it is
45:13
>> the charts.
45:14
>> It is and we know it is but also I think
45:16
some of the argument can be made to that
45:18
it's a
45:19
it was at one time some of their best
45:22
marketing tools.
45:24
>> Oh yeah, this is a big marketing
45:26
expense.
45:26
>> It it is a huge marketing expense but it
45:28
we know it works. How many people went
45:30
to a BlizzCon that had zero interest in
45:34
Overwatch but then it was announced that
45:36
if you had a year-long subscription to
45:38
World of Warcraft you got Overwatch for
45:41
free. How many people how many people
45:44
got excited about that and then
45:45
immediately went over to try Overwatch
45:47
in the demo area that weren't planning
45:50
on it before. I remember that BlizzCon
45:52
and the Overwatch area was completely
45:54
dead except for a handful of people
45:56
until that was announced and then the
45:57
line was out the bloody door, right?
46:00
Like and and it's the same thing for the
46:03
StarCraft. When StarCraft was announced
46:05
and it first was out there, how many
46:07
people had never played a StarCraft game
46:09
before, never even really considered it,
46:11
but it was announced and all of a sudden
46:13
the stations went online. Like, I
46:15
literally remember the boot up sound of
46:17
the battleships rate like reeling across
46:20
the convention center as the booths went
46:22
live as they made that announcement. And
46:24
people who had never played an RTS
46:25
before, never played StarCraft or had
46:28
any inkling of it, went and played it.
46:30
Like, it it there is a case to be made
46:32
for it, but I think you're you are also
46:34
right and I think that
46:36
in order for BlizzCon to continue to
46:38
expand,
46:40
the CD Projekt Red stuff is not going to
46:43
become abnormal. You are going to see
46:46
BlizzCon, I think if it stays around,
46:49
becoming a flagship event for Microsoft
46:53
games that are partnered with Blizzard
46:56
games as well as other partnerships with
47:00
them in general.
47:01
>> I'm going to also point this out.
47:03
>> Easily, yeah.
47:03
>> Consistent with what you're talking
47:04
about.
47:05
I've noticed that a lot of games that
47:08
seem to get weird attention from the
47:09
Blizzard launcher are ones that are also
47:12
currently moved into the game pass
47:16
>> Yeah.
47:16
>> umbrella.
47:17
>> Yes.
47:18
>> And Cyberpunk is the first one that
47:20
caught my attention,
47:21
but right now, there's a lot of stuff
47:24
like a CD Projekt Red's current releases
47:27
uh I believe The Witcher 3's on there
47:29
now.
47:30
I and it's like, okay, wait a minute. Um
47:35
I wouldn't be surprised to see stuff
47:38
that goes to, you know, game pass
47:41
being on the launcher.
47:44
Because once it goes on to game pass,
47:46
they've got a contractual relationship
47:48
with with with Microsoft.
47:50
>> And yes, I can confirm that I'm looking
47:52
at it right now. The Witcher 3: Wild
47:53
Hunt Remastered is on the launcher as of
47:55
right now.
47:56
>> Yeah, so
47:57
>> So is Crash Bandicoot 4? Just throwing
47:58
it out there.
47:59
>> I
48:00
>> [laughter]
48:01
>> Crash Bandicoot 4 like Spyro's got a new
48:03
game coming out. That's got nothing to
48:04
do with anything. Stop the talk before
48:05
you think about it too much. Um
48:08
I I just I think that there's something
48:10
to be said for the idea that if BlizzCon
48:11
continues to exist, it will not be as a
48:14
Blizzard specific
48:16
convention, but rather as an Xbox games
48:19
portal.
48:19
>> Mhm. And I could absolutely see that. I
48:22
mean
48:23
Ignite is Microsoft's big event and they
48:25
don't Yeah.
48:27
They Microsoft doesn't do a darn thing
48:29
for Xbox games at their their main event
48:32
of the year. Like they send them out.
48:34
They don't host. So, easily.
48:38
>> And I think that's also interesting too
48:39
for the consideration for them from a
48:41
monetary standpoint is going to those
48:44
events is not cheap either.
48:46
And especially when you're going and
48:48
traveling to another country
48:51
um in in like from the United States to
48:53
like let's say any any of the European
48:56
countries for any of those events,
48:58
you are not only just having to worry
49:00
about work visas for everybody working
49:02
in the event. Uh not you have to worry
49:05
about what is actually being approved
49:07
for your advertising and what you are
49:09
allowed to and not to advertise. Um and
49:12
I'm not saying this is a negative. These
49:14
are good things that they have to
49:15
they're required to think about it. But
49:17
that's expensive and time-consuming and
49:18
involves a lot of people. And I know
49:21
from my personal experience working with
49:23
our marketing team at the company I'm at
49:26
where when we go to other countries, it
49:29
is a nightmare of logistics to get
49:31
everything sorted. And with stuff like
49:34
this, even if you are not paying for the
49:36
event space, you are paying to be there.
49:39
There is you are you are you are
49:41
contributing and buying a slot. It's not
49:44
free. You're not invited there out of
49:46
out of goodwill. You are paying for that
49:48
event to happen, right? And so, if they
49:51
could use BlizzCon as a homegrown event
49:55
to become a draw
49:58
for all the Microsoft Xbox games,
50:01
why wouldn't they? It's
50:03
>> Yeah.
50:03
>> ultimately cheaper than going to 18
50:05
conventions and 18 game events across
50:08
the globe. You don't have to worry about
50:10
work visas for most of your stuff. And
50:12
if you do, it's likely less and easier
50:14
to get people from uh you know, the
50:17
European Union to here if you need to
50:18
post somebody here cuz it's going to be
50:20
one or two people, not an entire team,
50:22
right? And you're
50:24
like these are these are just my
50:25
thoughts. Like this could be
50:27
yes, an expensive marketing tool, but
50:30
also a cost-saving marketing tool if
50:32
they run the numbers right.
50:34
>> Mhm.
50:35
Just depends on what they do.
50:36
>> Yeah. Unlike most places, you've got a
50:39
team already that has a lot of
50:42
experience launching it.
50:44
>> doing this.
50:47
Running this convention. And the
50:49
weirdest part is it's not a team that
50:50
initially signed up to be experts on
50:53
running conventions. They got dragooned
50:55
into it. And then they Now they have,
50:58
you know, 20 2007 to now, you've been
51:01
running this thing. It's getting to be
51:04
20 years.
51:05
So, yeah. But at this point, I do think
51:08
we need to talk about Go ahead, Liz, but
51:10
we do need to
51:11
>> to bring up one more thing about
51:12
BlizzCon, which is in the past week,
51:14
they rolled out the BlizzCon merchandise
51:16
on the Blizzard Watch the Blizz Blizzard
51:20
gear store. Um
51:23
which it's Okay, I'm going to say I
51:25
think it's a little bland. It's key art.
51:28
But what I do notice is that it also
51:30
it's got the BlizzCon key art or the
51:32
BlizzCon logo, and it says the next
51:34
chapter. And that has me really
51:37
wondering
51:38
>> make a lot of sense.
51:40
>> The next chapter of what? Because I did
51:43
go in, you know, before I saw this, I I
51:45
thinking, yeah, this is we're not going
51:47
to be seeing much BlizzCon after this
51:49
cuz it's a cuz Microsoft. Um but yes,
51:53
now there's all these t-shirts and desk
51:55
mats and hoodies and etc. etc. that say
52:00
the next chapter with Blizzard art and
52:04
the art is let's see, it's Thrall,
52:07
Mephisto,
52:09
uh what's Vendeetta and Raynor.
52:12
>> Mhm.
52:14
>> So and that's another thing, on the key
52:16
art you you've got your StarCraft in on
52:19
that key art that's on all of the
52:21
merchandise. I think we've got to see
52:24
something from StarCraft here. There's
52:26
no way we don't.
52:28
>> Yeah, that's the thing is
52:29
whether or not you think StarCraft is
52:31
currently producing anything cuz it's
52:33
not, it's pretty easy to see that
52:35
they're not currently producing any any
52:37
live games.
52:39
The fact that Microsoft has been putting
52:41
StarCraft on every single time that
52:44
there's anything, there's a StarCraft
52:46
character on it, says to me that they
52:48
want something from StarCraft.
52:50
>> we know we know this, we talked about
52:51
this when Microsoft was circling the the
52:54
acquisition of it, right? They want
52:57
RTS that is recognizable that can
52:59
compete with the other RTSs that are
53:01
releasing. Yes, they're slow and they're
53:03
they're like indie games right now, but
53:06
there's been a call for it. It's a void.
53:08
It's a void in the market.
53:11
>> They recognize there's value in the IP.
53:14
>> Yeah.
53:15
>> That's I think it's easy to recognize
53:17
that, but somehow Blizzard itself has
53:20
written it off.
53:22
>> Well, I think that a lot of that has to
53:23
do and and we really do need to
53:25
>> a lot of the team that does that.
53:27
>> We need we yeah, I I just want to say
53:28
like it's not even just that though,
53:30
like a lot of that was also under the
53:31
Activision
53:33
brand of
53:34
leadership which was we'll we'll okay as
53:36
many devs as you want, but you better
53:38
make us money.
53:40
>> And also they kind of flubbed some
53:42
e-sports.
53:43
>> Oh, yeah.
53:44
>> Uh
53:45
>> relationship you like bad they and
53:47
Starcraft lives and dies on e-sports.
53:50
So.
53:51
>> And and I mean they're bringing name
53:53
like a named celebrity back specifically
53:56
for this tournament. At BlizzCon. Like
54:01
you don't invest in an appearance fee
54:03
for a a person who is a
54:05
playing Disney money down to like to
54:09
just be there for the the the grins of
54:11
it, right?
54:12
>> And one of them is T-Pain as well.
54:14
>> Oh, yeah.
54:16
>> T-Pain.
54:16
>> Also, yes.
54:18
>> All right. World of Warcraft Venomous
54:20
Abyss Raid Finder Wing 3 is live. Uh we
54:23
we we had to put that news out there
54:25
because quite frankly
54:27
as Liz Liz has talked about this before
54:29
and I I mean Liz Prime or Omega Liz. Uh
54:33
the thing about Raid Finder's current
54:36
releases over the past I want to say
54:38
since
54:39
uh the War Within they've been doing
54:41
this, right? Or was it even back to
54:42
Dragonflight where they do everything
54:44
like week by week instead of every 2
54:46
weeks?
54:47
>> Definitely War Within. They've they've
54:49
been compressing it and I think it's
54:51
been really good for the game.
54:53
>> Yeah, so that's out now. If you I don't
54:56
think I think Wing 3 is the last wing,
54:57
right? Or is there a Wing 4?
54:59
>> There's a Wing 4.
54:59
>> a Wing 4.
55:00
>> Okay.
55:00
>> Next week.
55:01
>> 4 will be next week and then BlizzCon
55:03
will be next week.
55:05
So we'll meet I'm hoping that means
55:08
we're going to see
55:09
uh some of the next patch at least some
55:11
ideas about it, but you know, we'll find
55:13
out. Uh nevertheless, if you are running
55:16
uh Venomous Abyss primarily on Raid
55:18
Finder
55:19
you can do more of it now and if you're
55:22
using Raid Finder to get your set
55:25
uh which I know people are doing you can
55:28
do that now. So, yeah, that's good. I I
55:32
have no difficulties with this. I think
55:34
it is a good thing.
55:35
Anybody else have any commentary on it
55:37
before we force Liz to do a lot of
55:38
reading?
55:41
>> I'd love to hear Liz's voice.
55:44
>> Yeah, we all do. Especially since it
55:45
means the rest of us get to like you
55:46
know, stop and drink and talk. Um
55:50
So yeah, Liz, could could you please do
55:52
the same news?
55:53
>> [laughter]
55:55
>> I just want to say thank you to all of
55:57
our listeners out there. Thank you so
55:58
much for tuning in. You guys are what
56:01
keep us here doing the show rather than
56:03
just sitting around and talking to
56:06
ourselves.
56:07
Sometimes we do that too, but it's it's
56:09
nice to have an audience when we're
56:11
talking to ourselves. So thank you
56:13
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56:16
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you everyone for being here, and uh
59:01
yeah.
59:03
That's all I have to say.
59:04
>> Now, go go get some water while we talk
59:06
for a little bit
59:06
>> [laughter]
59:07
>> because I I know you just had to talk a
59:08
lot.
59:09
Um I want to throw out to the These are
59:12
like other games. We usually cover them.
59:14
I don't know if we'll get through a lot
59:15
of them, but I really thought we needed
59:17
to cover the Guild Wars 3 species uh
59:19
spotlights because we said we were going
59:22
to when we were talking to each other
59:23
about this, and I am nothing if I'm not
59:25
a man of my word and possibly also a
59:27
galactic conqueror.
59:29
Jury's still out. Joe, if you could
59:31
please talk about this
59:33
>> Uh I'm not going to go into too much
59:34
detail because we don't have a whole lot
59:35
of time and we can probably we can move
59:37
some of it to to next week.
59:39
Um but one of the things is that they're
59:42
really talking about the philosophy of
59:44
playable characters uh in Guild Wars and
59:47
they you know, they've highlighted like
59:48
in Guild Wars 2 where they had five
59:50
different playable races or species.
59:53
Sorry, species. Uh humans are sure and
59:55
Norn, Charr, and Sylvari. Uh Sylvari
59:58
being their wood wood born elf-like
1:00:00
substitutes. Asura being their
1:00:02
gnome-like substitutes. Norn being your
1:00:04
virile substitutes and Charr being your
1:00:05
giant cat people that are very warlike.
1:00:08
Uh and humans being humans. For those of
1:00:09
you that have never played Guild Wars
1:00:10
and to give you a comparison with World
1:00:12
of Warcraft. Um but one of the things is
1:00:15
that they really wanted to do is
1:00:17
maintain
1:00:19
the quality bar adding another species
1:00:21
as a major uh like point and because for
1:00:25
Guild Wars 3, we know that they're
1:00:28
adding Kodan, which are giant bear
1:00:30
people. Uh and it's I I am
1:00:33
>> love this so much.
1:00:34
>> so excited for it.
1:00:36
Um and they really want this thing where
1:00:38
it's a a the philosophy of play what you
1:00:41
love and giving these things a unique
1:00:44
feel that actually feels
1:00:47
important or warranted and part of the
1:00:49
world. Like one of the things that uh I
1:00:53
I thought was really interesting
1:00:55
is when they were talking about the
1:00:56
Asura. So the Asura being gnome-like
1:00:59
have essentially magic tech or tech
1:01:01
magic. Um however you want to like call
1:01:04
it. And they weren't always like that.
1:01:08
At one point in time they were, you
1:01:10
know, not essentially living in giant
1:01:12
mech based cities and civilizations. Um
1:01:16
but instead
1:01:18
you know, it's going back and looking at
1:01:19
where they started. So their
1:01:21
relationship in particular
1:01:23
uh during the uh Orion golden age
1:01:27
of magic essentially and how that looks
1:01:29
for them and how that shaped their life
1:01:31
before it became this big tech techno
1:01:35
magic society.
1:01:36
Um
1:01:37
it's it's really interesting to see that
1:01:40
and also taking into a combination or
1:01:42
accounting
1:01:43
like how these species interact with the
1:01:47
rest of the world, the veil wardens if
1:01:49
they would join the veil wardens or not.
1:01:52
Like it's it's this big thing where
1:01:53
they're every species that's going to be
1:01:55
playable in this game
1:01:57
has an impact
1:01:59
on the development of the world of or or
1:02:03
Tyria.
1:02:04
So like
1:02:06
I'm really excited for it and it looks
1:02:08
like
1:02:11
the excitement that I saw from the the
1:02:13
devs when they were talking about
1:02:15
creating these species
1:02:18
was very infectious. Uh
1:02:20
>> Mhm.
1:02:21
>> And I believe that there's if if I read
1:02:23
it or listened to it correctly
1:02:26
there's probably going to be another
1:02:27
species that has not been announced yet
1:02:30
outside of the ones that have. Uh
1:02:33
because
1:02:34
>> They weren't They weren't subtle.
1:02:35
>> They weren't subtle about They weren't
1:02:37
subtle about that.
1:02:37
>> They said four in everything I've read
1:02:39
and they've only listed three so far.
1:02:41
>> Yeah and they they they were very
1:02:43
careful to redact it and the one
1:02:45
developer
1:02:46
you know absolutely got himself muted
1:02:49
which was obviously on purpose but he's
1:02:52
either a really good actor or he's
1:02:53
really excited about it and has a hand
1:02:55
in it. So I have my guess.
1:02:59
I think it's going to be a certain
1:03:00
>> cuz they haven't mentioned the charr yet
1:03:01
so
1:03:02
>> Well yeah.
1:03:05
>> But they did say also they were planning
1:03:06
on adding more races in the future.
1:03:09
Um which is
1:03:10
>> Species.
1:03:11
>> they did for Guild Wars 2. Isn't it?
1:03:12
Yes, species. I'm sorry. Um I should
1:03:14
just think I'm talking about D&D and
1:03:15
then I'll say a more. But the
1:03:17
interesting thing is with their being
1:03:18
with them being um one of the major
1:03:20
storylines in Guild Wars 2
1:03:23
was dealing with the Astral Ward, a
1:03:25
group of Astral inhabitants that uh are
1:03:29
like the the sort of like the
1:03:31
continuation of the Vale Guard. And so
1:03:34
like we know that there are things like
1:03:36
there are Astral cats and sharks and
1:03:38
fish, jellyfish, worms, things like
1:03:41
that, but there are also intelligent
1:03:42
races that reside primarily in the
1:03:44
Astral realms.
1:03:45
Um
1:03:47
and also
1:03:48
interestingly enough
1:03:50
there's a lot of references
1:03:53
to ancient dwarven ruins in the game in
1:03:57
Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2.
1:03:59
We've never seen a playable dwarf
1:04:01
species in Guild Wars.
1:04:04
Having that be something maybe that they
1:04:06
bring back would be very exciting.
1:04:10
Especially if cuz this is a prequel to
1:04:11
Guild Wars 1.
1:04:13
>> Mhm.
1:04:15
>> Options.
1:04:17
Many, many options.
1:04:20
Okay, I think that basically is going to
1:04:22
be it for today because we are running
1:04:24
pretty close to the borderline even with
1:04:25
our late start. So uh thank you to Liz P
1:04:29
for being here and and joining us so
1:04:31
that we could have one more person
1:04:33
joining in the madness.
1:04:34
>> Well, actually before we do that, I
1:04:36
think there's one other thing that we
1:04:37
really should talk about because I would
1:04:39
want to take the time before we cut it
1:04:40
off here and I want to kick this over to
1:04:43
Liz because I I I read this and I do
1:04:45
think it's a an interesting but also an
1:04:48
important topic. Liz, if you would.
1:04:51
>> Uh yeah, Double Fine. You maybe familiar
1:04:54
with them. They're an indie game studio
1:04:56
headed by Tim Schafer who has made some
1:04:58
of our most favorite games like Grim
1:05:02
Fandango
1:05:03
>> It's like an old
1:05:03
>> and other games, but once you say Grim
1:05:05
Fandango, I can't think of anything
1:05:07
else. My head goes blank with the glory
1:05:10
of Grim Fandango. So that's
1:05:12
I know he's done other things, but that
1:05:14
eclipses all things in my mind. I can't
1:05:16
help it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry your
1:05:18
resume deserves more than that. But, um
1:05:20
Double Fine was a subsidiary of
1:05:23
Microsoft. It would have been bought up
1:05:25
in one of those big Xbox studio buying
1:05:27
sprees. And uh they recently with the
1:05:30
big Xbox layoffs, Double Fine has spun
1:05:33
off into being an independent studio
1:05:35
again. Now, you know, that's that's
1:05:39
rough. Even though Microsoft actually is
1:05:40
supporting the best we know, the studios
1:05:43
that are spinning off, it's it's tough
1:05:45
being an indie game studio these days.
1:05:47
And uh there were some layoffs at Double
1:05:49
Fine. Not great, but it's like you can't
1:05:52
you can't do all of this on your own.
1:05:54
But right now they're running a
1:05:55
Kickstarter for what they call Amnesia
1:05:58
Fortnight 2026. This is their yearly
1:06:02
sort of game jam that they do, but this
1:06:04
year they're doing this game jam and
1:06:06
they're doing it kind of collectively
1:06:09
with all of us in the studio audience,
1:06:11
which is to say that they're getting
1:06:13
their whole team is
1:06:15
they're tossing out what they're working
1:06:17
on. They're ignoring everything they're
1:06:19
supposed to be doing and they're going
1:06:20
to sit down and come up with new ideas
1:06:21
and make new games and work on them in a
1:06:24
two-week game jam.
1:06:26
So,
1:06:27
uh they have a list of 26 games. Uh
1:06:31
people who support their Kickstarter for
1:06:33
this can vote on the games that they
1:06:36
most want to see and in the end I
1:06:37
believe they will get they will narrow
1:06:40
this down and they'll actually make four
1:06:42
short games off of this and they're also
1:06:44
doing a documentary about it to kind of
1:06:47
get into the game developer process and
1:06:50
so we can just see all of this behind
1:06:52
the scenes. I think it is super cool to
1:06:54
see, you know, really creative
1:06:57
professionals who are super passionate
1:06:59
about games to, you know, get in there
1:07:02
and see how see what they're doing. See
1:07:03
how they're making things and support
1:07:05
some of these weird tiny projects that
1:07:08
they have proposed.
1:07:09
So, it's a really interesting
1:07:11
Kickstarter. It is in support of a
1:07:12
studio that is
1:07:14
trying to find its feet again as an
1:07:16
independent studio. They are looking for
1:07:18
$400,000 to get this off the ground and
1:07:21
I think they are
1:07:23
they're very easily going to meet this.
1:07:25
By the time you listen to this, I think
1:07:26
it's there's a huge chance that they
1:07:28
will already be past that. But, um
1:07:31
They are very Double Fine team.
1:07:32
>> right now.
1:07:33
>> They're close. They're close right now,
1:07:35
but probably by the time all listeners
1:07:37
hear this, they'll be over it. So,
1:07:40
if you are at all interested in how
1:07:42
games are made, if you're interested in
1:07:44
playing weird indie games,
1:07:46
uh go and support Double Fine on
1:07:48
Kickstarter's their Amnesia Fortnite
1:07:50
project because this is just it's going
1:07:52
to be interesting. It's going to be
1:07:53
really interesting to see both the games
1:07:56
that come out of this and how the games
1:07:58
work out. So, I'm I'm excited about this
1:08:01
one and yeah, there's there's a limited
1:08:03
time to go up and back them. So,
1:08:06
if that sounds interesting to you, go do
1:08:08
it while you can.
1:08:14
>> Okay.
1:08:17
I'm giving you a little time if someone
1:08:18
else is going to jump in.
1:08:19
>> [laughter]
1:08:21
>> I I could I could keep talking about
1:08:23
things, but uh you know, at some point
1:08:24
you got to call it. At some point.
1:08:27
>> Then again, thank you to Liz P for being
1:08:29
here with us.
1:08:31
>> [clears throat]
1:08:31
>> Thank you for having me.
1:08:33
>> Uh thank you to Joe and Liz Prime for
1:08:37
both being, you know,
1:08:39
primordial spirits of chaos, just one of
1:08:41
them in an extremely orderly way.
1:08:44
Which I as they say in the book Chaos by
1:08:46
James Gleick, uh enough chaos is order.
1:08:50
>> I just so you know, I am a Virgo. I am a
1:08:53
Virgo and it is Virgo season, so I am
1:08:55
coming into the height of my powers at
1:08:57
this time of year. So,
1:08:59
>> from what I know about Virgo is that
1:09:01
means you're it's amazing you're not
1:09:02
already dead.
1:09:05
But that's just based on other people. I
1:09:07
don't actually study it. Um but yeah,
1:09:10
and also thanks to all of you, our
1:09:11
audience of listeners and watchers and
1:09:13
so forth who keep this site and podcast
1:09:16
existing.
1:09:17
Um
1:09:18
this has been the Blizzard Watch podcast
1:09:20
and we'll be back [music] next week.

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