Blizzard Entertainment Celebrates 30 Years With Its Global Community—And New Adventures Soon to Come—at BlizzConline™
February 19 2021 - 5:57PM
Business Wire
Diablo® II: Resurrected™, Blizzard® Arcade
Collection, expansions for World of Warcraft® Classic and
Hearthstone®, and more announced at FREE online community event
taking place now at BlizzCon.com
Blizzard Entertainment today kicked off BlizzConline™, a fully
virtual version of its perennial community and gaming celebration,
with a slew of news and game announcements for a global online
audience of fans and enthusiasts tuning in FREE via
www.blizzcon.com.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210219005513/en/
During the event’s just-concluded opening ceremony, company
president J. Allen Brack and development leaders for Blizzard’s
franchises reflected on the past and shared an exciting look at the
future, revealing the following games and game updates—much of
which will be explored in more detail during the show:
- One of the most acclaimed titles in PC gaming history returns
with Diablo® II: Resurrected™, a faithful remaster of
Blizzard’s classic action-RPG and its award-winning expansion, Lord
of Destruction®, coming later this year to Windows PC and, for the
first time, consoles. PC players can sign up now at www.diablo2.com
for a chance to participate in upcoming public testing.
- Blizzard also unveiled the Rogue for Diablo® IV, with a
dark cinematic trailer and gameplay footage of the new player class
in action. The Rogue is a swift, deadly, mobile class with
unparalleled versatility. Rogue players can choose from a variety
of ways to attack and trap their enemies and can enhance their
combat through poisons, shadow magic, and specialized
techniques.
- Blizzard is set to kick off another jam-packed year of
content—the Year of the Gryphon—for Hearthstone®, its
popular free-to-play digital card game, in the coming weeks. The
new Hearthstone year will feature a new Core set of cards
designed to shake up the game, and the introduction of the
Classic format, which will let players craft decks and
compete using the original Hearthstone cards as they were when the
game launched in 2014.
- Also coinciding with the Year of the Gryphon is the first
Hearthstone expansion of 2021, Forged in the Barrens™,
inspired by the iconic World of Warcraft® locale where millions of
adventurers began forging their legends—available for prepurchase
now at www.playhearthstone.com.
- Later in the year, Blizzard will roll out Hearthstone
Mercenaries, a single-player and competitive game mode in which
players collect mighty characters from the Warcraft® universe and
level them up in tactical battles.
- For World of Warcraft, Blizzard announced Chains of
Domination, the first major content update coming later this
year for the recently released Shadowlands expansion, as well as an
all-new charity pet program that will yield two separate
pets—Bananas the monkey and Daisy the sloth—for all modern WoW®
players once donation goals are met. Blizzard also revealed
Burning Crusade Classic™, an authentic recreation of the
acclaimed first World of Warcraft expansion—also coming later this
year, and included in players’ existing World of Warcraft
subscription at no additional cost.
- Now included as part of Blizzard’s anniversary-themed
Celebration Collection on Windows® PC (via Battle.net®), as part of
The Blizzard® 30-Year Celebration Collection on consoles, or as a
standalone game on consoles, the Blizzard® Arcade Collection
is a digital set of Blizzard’s original console hits, The Lost
Vikings®, Rock N Roll Racing®, and Blackthorne®, enhanced for
modern platforms.
Over the next few hours today and starting again at 12 p.m. PST
tomorrow, six channels of programming will feature deeper dives on
Blizzard’s franchises, including a behind-the-scenes look at
ongoing development of Overwatch® 2, the company’s highly
anticipated sequel to its blockbuster team-based shooter, and
Diablo® Immortal™, its upcoming mobile massively multiplayer
online action-RPG. (Of note, Blizzard recently completed its first
stage of regional testing on Diablo Immortal, receiving an
enthusiastic response from testers, and will be rolling out further
tests in the coming months. The game has also recently received
publishing approval for release in China.) Viewers will also be
treated to one-of-a-kind esports showmatches—with legendary
StarCraft® and StarCraft II pros facing off, as well
as a battle between reigning Overwatch League™ champions,
the San Francisco Shock, and a dream team comprising pros,
community figures, and more.
Channeling the spirit of the live show, BlizzConline will also
put a huge spotlight on the creativity and skill of the people who
help bring Blizzard’s games to life. There will be multiple
segments featuring artists, musicians, voice actors, content
creators, and streamers, as well as an epic showcase highlighting
some of the talented cosplayers, storytellers, and other artists
inhabiting the Blizzard community.
To learn more about BlizzConline and for a full schedule of
events, visit www.blizzcon.com. For game screenshots and other
assets, visit https://blizzard.gamespress.com.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft;
Hearthstone; Overwatch; the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo
franchises; and the multifranchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard
Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision
Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of
entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s
most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track
record includes twenty-three #1 games* and numerous Game of the
Year awards. The company's online gaming service, Battle.net, is
one of the largest in the world, with millions of active
players.
*Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and
reports from key distributors.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements:
Information in this press release that involves Blizzard
Entertainment's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies
regarding the future, including statements about the plans,
schedule, and content of BlizzConline, Diablo II: Resurrected,
Diablo IV, Diablo Immortal, Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft, are
forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard
Entertainment's actual future results to differ materially from
those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this
release include unanticipated product delays and other factors
identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s
most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this
release are based upon information available to Blizzard
Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this
release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard
assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when
made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not
guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or
Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and
other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause
actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210219005513/en/
Christy Um Global PR Director 949.955.1380 x61251
christy.um@blizzard.com
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