BlizzCon<\/a> was held in 2023, just after Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft in a blockbuster $69 billion transaction that signaled a renewed investment in gaming by the software giant. The past few years have marked an intense period of restructuring and realigning, and not just within Microsoft. But Blizzard is ready to commune with its core consumer, even in the absence of any scheduled new tentpole release, says Johanna Faries, president of the unit.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cBlizzCon in and of itself represents so much for all of us to be able to shine a light on all the great work going on at Blizzard,\u201d Faries says. \u201cWe have put a lot of thought into this moment, and why now, and how do we continue to capture and build on the momentum we\u2019re experiencing as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBlizzCon isn\u2019t a profit-making venture for Blizzard so much as it is an investment in rewarding the super fans that drive the company\u2019s biggest franchises.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIf we can pour into our community in this way and celebrate our teams who are putting so much boldness behind our games and our launches, then [BlizzCon is] always going to be worthwhile,\u201d Faries says.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe renewed optimism comes after a roller-coaster decade for gaming. The pandemic years turbocharged what was already strong growth in the 2000s and 2010s.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe pandemic period sent gaming activity skyrocketing amid lockdown conditions. The unusual circumstances that piqued the interest of casual players was hailed as a once-in-a-lifetime gift that would widen the playing field for gaming consumers. This may prove true in the long run, but in the short term coming out of the pandemic, gaming took a hit, in part because social video and AI tools began to dominate cultural conversation. The about-face was so sharp that most big outfits \u2014 notably Blizzard\u2019s parent, Microsoft\u2019s Xbox \u2014 in recent years have implemented significant layoffs, scrapped projects and shuttered or sold game studios.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn my professional career, I had not seen tough times until coming out of the pandemic, and that was scary,\u201d says Jack Buser, Google Cloud gaming chief and a former Sony PlayStation exec. Buser has been in gaming for three decades and asserts that he hadn\u2019t seen a darker time for the sector since he could buy Atari games for $1 at Kmart during the \u201cgame crash\u201d of 1983.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut the forecast is much brighter, Buser believes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPlayer spend is back. We\u2019ve got \u2018GTA 6\u2019 coming out. There\u2019s a really healthy suite of releases across just about every genre and platform you can imagine,\u201d he says. \u201cCall me an optimist, but I feel like we are on the precipice of a renaissance as an industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cGTA 6\u201d is projected to ring in $3.25 billion to $5.2 billion in global sales in the week after its Nov. 19 launch, according to market research firm Newzoo. But while no other title will come close to \u201cGTA 6,\u201d it isn\u2019t the only souped-up car hitting the road.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe packed fall slate starts with a slew of highly anticipated September and October releases, including \u201cMarvel\u2019s Wolverine\u201d from PlayStation, Activision\u2019s \u201cCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 4,\u201d \u201cGears of War: E-Day\u201d from Xbox, Square Enix\u2019s \u201cFinal Fantasy Resonance,\u201d \u201cEA Sports FC 27\u201d from the now-private Electronic Arts, \u201cAce Combat 8: Wings of Theve\u201d from Capcom, Bandai Namco\u2019s \u201cBlood of Dawnwalker,\u201d Nintendo\u2019s \u201cOrbitals,\u201d Take-Two\u2019s \u201cNBA 2K27\u201d and Lyrical Games\u2019 \u201cValor Mortis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWith such a crowded schedule and \u201cGTA 6\u201d as the main competition, many developers have chosen to pivot from the oft-used teaser approach for recent game rollouts (a handful of cinematic trailers, some gameplay footage, a beta test if there\u2019s time) to revealing as much of their games as possible in advance to consumers. During the annual Gamescom conference in August, the newly launched Saudi Arabia-backed MBC Game Studio offered extensive hands-on demos of its first title, \u201c1001 Threads of Mizan,\u201d just hours after announcing the game.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s about the community and letting the community actually play the game first, as opposed to just leading with marketing assets,\u201d says Tyler Bahl, Activision marketing chief.<\/p>\n
\n\tBahl\u2019s team recently dropped in to Paris for the Esports World Cup to tout the upcoming \u201cModern Warfare 4.\u201d That game is next headed for a stunt in South Korea (\u201cWe\u2019ll be right at the DMZ [with North Korea], allowing people to play some of the new game with multiplayer,\u201d Bahl says) as well as a big push at the Tokyo Game Show and Brasil Game Show.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe goal is to \u201cjust really make sure that we feel really strong about the game, so we want people to be able to play it and get hands-on before it launches,\u201d Bahl says.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor BlizzCon, Blizzard is promising to pump up the star power for the big return. There are plans for special appearances by celebrity Blizzard fans including T-Pain, Simu Liu and deadmau5, and performances by musical guests YOASOBI and K-pop sensation LE SSERAFIM.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn programming the two days, the Blizzard team sought to emphasize one-of-a-kind moments that fans will love. Faries says the focus was on \u201cthings that attendees will be able to experience and feel really a uniquely special connection to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe first BlizzCon was held in 2005 and drew a crowd of 8,000 to Anaheim. This year\u2019s event is expected to draw approximately 40,000, an increase of 30% from 2023. Faries is eager for the chance to rev up fans for future projects.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe take it as an honor to be a part of the gaming industry all up in this big fall. To kind of kick things off in September in a big way,\u201d Faries says.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s so many other cool games and launches coming forward, so it should just feel like a great time to be a gamer, frankly, and be a part of this global community. And you know, all ships should rise together if we do our collective jobs well. It should be a great fall.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After suffering through a post-pandemic downturn, the gaming industry is readying an onslaught of fall releases in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[191170,308802,49,48,8715,61],"class_list":["post-890896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-blizzard-entertainment","tag-blizzcon","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gta-6","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}