BlizzCon holds event focused on the output of a single company: Blizzard Entertainment

The major conventions are highlights of the year for gamers and the recently held BlizzCon was no exception.

BlizzCon, first held in 2005, celebrated its 10th anniversary in style as more than 25,000 people descended on the Anaheim Convention Centre in Los Angeles over the weekend of November 4 and 5 to take part in the event, for which tickets typically sell out in seconds.

Unlike most gaming conventions, which tend to have exhibits and content from a range of publishers and software companies, BlizzCon is focused on the output of a single company: Blizzard Entertainment, best known for publishing the phenomenally successful World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), popular first-person team shooter Overwatch, and one of the unofficial national sports of South Korea, StarCraft II.

Part gaming convention, part eSports World Championship Finals and part chance for developers and fans to mingle, BlizzCon has been held annually since 2007 and attracts attendees from 60 countries all over the world, with guests from as far afield as India, China, Japan, Russia, Britain and Australia attending the event.

In addition to the lucky folks able to attend in person, thousands of people globally watched highlights and convention proceedings via “virtual tickets”, granting access to streams of the panels, eSports finals, and more.

Hundreds of people who had been unable to secure tickets filled the plaza outside the convention centre as well, enjoying the atmosphere, admiring the costumes and sampling the wide selection of food on offer from numerous food trucks.

Different parts of the Anaheim Convention Centre were devoted to each of the current titles supported by Blizzard — namely Overwatch, World of WarCraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft.

Encompassing more than 92,9000sq m of the convention centre’s floorspace and facilitated by more than 3000 Blizzard staff, the atmosphere at the convention can only be described as overwhelmingly positive — there was a palpable buzz in the air across the two-day event as fans eagerly awaited development announcements for their favourite games, shared the experience of the games together, and collectively held their breath, cheered, or commiserated as 218 of the world’s top eSports athletes battled it out for the world titles in World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and Starcraft II, with a combined prize pool of USD$2.75 million across the events.

More than 20 hours of panel discussions with members of Blizzard development teams covered everything from future plans for their titles through to retrospectives of the company’s success and games through to the art of storytelling and worldbuilding.

Cosplay — where people dress up as characters from the games — was also a popular element, with numerous outstanding and movie-quality costumes featuring at the event and people swapping tips and ideas.

Among the major highlights was the announcement of new character Sombra, with hacking and teleport abilities, for Overwatch, along with the establishment of a professional eSports league for the game. A new expansion was also announced for card combat game Hearthstone, while the Necromancer was announced as a new class for action RPG Diablo III.

Vast numbers of computers were set up across the convention floor, giving attendees the chance to get some hands-on time with not-yet-released elements of their favourite games; the queues for some of the spots were quite significant indeed.

The event was rounded out with a well-received concert from popular musician Weird Al Yankovic.

What is now a significant event on the gaming calendar had more modest roots back in 2005, with Blizzard co-founder and chief development officer Frank Pearce saying they had about 4000 attendees at the first BlizzCon and it took several days to sell all the tickets.

“Today the tickets sell out in a matter of seconds,” he said.

“A lot of that is because in the course of the 10 years, people have come to understand that BlizzCon is an opportunity for them to convene together around their passion for Blizzard games.

“I don’t think anyone understood (in 2005) what we were trying to create here ... It’s interesting when we discussed hosting a convention, we talked about it being a World of Warcraft convention and wisely, it would seem today, we might the right decision to make it a convention focused on all the Blizzard games even though at the time we didn’t necessarily understand the implication of export.”

Mr Pearce said there was a lot of behind the scenes work involved to plan each BlizzCon and one of the most rewarding elements of the event was seeing how it brought everyone together to share the experience and the atmosphere.

“It’s hard to even put it into words honestly,” he said.

“There’s something about it that’s very special. The people here are so happy to be here ... It’s almost like this event brings out the best in the people that attend.

“It’s really actually hard to get that in the world today.”

Blizzard games have long been known for inspiring a lot of passion, with dedicated fans enjoying the complex world building, attention to detail and inclusive nature of the company’s titles.

Nicole Roberts and her husband travelled from Geraldton in Western Australia to Los Angeles for BlizzCon, saying they were big fans of Blizzard games.

“I used to run a blog dedicated to World of Warcraft and my husband is a shoutcaster for Heroes of the Storm here in Australia,” she said.

Ms Roberts said the couple had dreamt of getting to the event in person ever since watching it online via a virtual ticket in 2011.

“BlizzCon viewing parties have become a bit of a tradition for us ever since. Thanks to time zones, it starts at 2am Perth time, so we would invite friends over, have a big cook up breakfast and bask in the hype train that is BlizzCon,” she said.

She said she was initially a little hesitant to physically attend, however, as they had children aged seven and two.

“When my best friend — someone who has attended every single BlizzCon viewing party we’ve ever had and loves Blizzard games just as much as we do — heard my concerns, she offered to take the kids for us. Another wonderful friend helped out with accommodation, giving us basically zero reasons not to take the leap and head over,” Ms Roberts said.

“There are honestly no words to describe how phenomenal it was to attend in person. The excitement of the opening ceremony, the electric atmosphere of watching eSports live, meeting so many wonderful people who we have spoken to online for the first time and who are just as passionate about as we are; I really am speechless.

“It was absolutely worth the flight from Geraldton to Perth, Perth to Brisbane, Brisbane to LA.”

Royce Wilson travelled to BlizzCon as a guest of Activision Blizzard

Originally published as The madness of a gaming convention