We’re only a few weeks away from one of the most anticipated video game conventions of the year, BlizzCon 2018, and Blizzard hasn’t wasted any time revving up the hype train. The company has just released its official schedule for the event, and with so many different panels and esport tournaments happening, its almost overwhelming just to look at it. The convention will open up with its usual Opening Ceremony, where they reveal brand new games and announce updates to existing ones. From there, all of the panels and floor demos will open up to the attendees. Speaking of panels, two of them have caught the attention of fans as soon as the schedule went live, and they both pertain to the Diablo franchise.
Immediately after the Opening Ceremony, a panel titled, Diablo: Whats Next?, will be hosted by the Diablo team and begins at 12:30 pm. This slot is usually reserved for special announcements, which begs the question, is this when they finally reveal Diablo 4? At the very least, we’re due for more news, as the company completely skipped over the series at last year’s BlizzCon. The second panel which is dubbed, Diablo: World and Q&A, takes place on the second day of BlizzCon in the evening at 5:45 pm. This panel is more than likely the aftermath for the first one, as fans will undoubtedly have a plethora of questions to throw at the development team.
The writing is on the wall with this one, as there have been a lot of Diablo news through the year thus far. This includes the job postings for more Diablo projects, the fact that Blizzard is working on said Diablo projects, and the reveal of the Nintendo Switch version of Diablo III, which launches on the first day of BlizzCon, November 2. Lets also not forget about the rumored animated Diablo tv series being produced by Netflix. All of these point to the series receiving another entry, or possibly a remaster of Diablo I or II.
Blizzard’s other famous franchises will be on display as well during the convention, such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft, and Hearthstone. In addition, all of the Grand Finals for each video game’s respective esport competition will take place at BlizzCon 2018 and will consist of the Overwatch World Cup, Hearthstone Global Games, the Heroes Global Championship, World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, and the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals. On top of all of that, Blizzard will be hosting the BlizzCon Opening Week at the Blizzard Arena which takes place from October 25-29. During this event fans will be able to see the initial matches of the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, and the Heroes Global Championship. Blizzard is also allowing fans to purchase a special Behind-the-Stage look at the Blizzard Arena itself, where they will be able to watch live broadcasts of the initial matches for the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals in a special studio only showing.
BlizzCon 2018 will commence on Friday November 2 at 11:00 am.