BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held
by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major
franchises Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone,
Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.
The first BlizzCon was held in October 2005
and since then all of conventions have been
held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim,
California, in the same metropolitan area
as Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine.
The convention features game-related announcements,
previews of upcoming Blizzard Entertainment
games and content, Q&A sessions and panels,
costume contests and playable versions of
various Blizzard games.
The closing night has featured concerts by
The Offspring, Tenacious D, Foo Fighters,
Ozzy Osbourne, Blink-182, Metallica, Linkin
Park, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Muse.
A similar event was the Blizzard Worldwide
Invitational, held outside the U.S. from 2004–2008.
== Pricing ==
Tickets for the first BlizzCon were US$50
for admission to both days of activities.
For the 2007 and 2008 events, prices were
$100.
In 2009, the price was raised to $125.
For 2010, the price was raised to $150.
For 2011, the price was raised to $175 and
for 2013 the price remained at $175.
For 2014, the price was raised to $199 and
the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner went from $500
to $750, which includes admission.
From 2015 to 2018, the prices have remained
at the 2014 level.
The ticket price includes a goody bag that
contains items such as in-game prizes, beta
keys for upcoming Blizzard games and exclusive
Blizzard paraphernalia.
BlizzCon was not held in 2006 or 2012.
== BlizzCon events ==
=== 2000s ===
==== 2005 ====
Attendees were able to try one of the two
new playable races, the Blood Elves, for upcoming
expansion based in Outland which was released
as World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
in 2007.
Playable demos of the single and multiplayer
modes of the since cancelled Starcraft: Ghost
were available.
A songwriting competition was judged by Jonathan
Davis of Korn.
Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, comedian
Christian Finnegan, and The Offspring performed
at the closing concert.
==== 2007 ====
StarCraft II was available for play, as single
player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss.
Much of the game was revealed and explained
as well as Q&A with attendees.
The Zerg race was, however, not unveiled at
that time.
The second expansion to World of Warcraft,
titled Wrath of the Lich King, was officially
announced and it was available to play.Comedian
Jay Mohr entertained at the closing ceremony
followed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain
(who changed their name to reflect the new
level cap in The Burning Crusade) alongside
Video Games Live performing at the closing
concert.
==== 2008 ====
In the opening ceremonies, Blizzard president
Michael Morhaime revealed the third playable
class for Diablo III: the Wizard, as well
as the major announcement that Starcraft II
would be separated into three games.
Playable versions of Diablo III, StarCraft
II, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich
King were available to test during the convention.
As well, there were tournaments and competitions
for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game,
World of Warcraft miniatures game, StarCraft,
StarCraft II, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne,
and World of Warcraft arena.
The Zerg race was now playable in the StarCraft
II demos.
BlizzCon 2008 was broadcast live on both days
as a PPV event on DirecTV for US viewers only,
for eight hours per day in high definition.
Official Blizzard fansite WoW Radio broadcast
live audio via SHOUTcast.For the closing ceremonies
on Saturday, comedians Kyle Kinane and Patton
Oswalt performed.
The closing concert was performed by Video
Games Live, playing arrangements from all
of the Blizzard games, and a performance including
the Wrath of the Lich King music.
==== 2009 ====
In an attempt to reduce frustrations linked
to lack of ticket availability for previous
BlizzCons, there were four halls (increased
from three) of space available.
Blizzard implemented a new system designed
to make buying tickets easier.
The new system implemented an online queue,
effectively creating an organized online "line"
for anyone who wants to purchase tickets,
an improvement on 2008's chaotic sale of tickets.
As in 2008, DirecTV carried both days of BlizzCon
2009 as a PPV event ($39.95 for both days)
for eight hours per day in both standard and
high definition.
All BlizzCon 2009 Pay Per View event purchasers
received an exclusive "Grunty the Murloc Marine"
World of Warcraft in-game pet. and had access
to the online stream for no additional cost.
New in 2009, BlizzCon was broadcast live via
an internet stream, calling it a "Virtual
Ticket".
The site covered both days of the convention
featuring exclusive interviews and commentary,
main stage presentations including the opening
ceremony and tournament coverage with team
highlights.
All purchasers received an exclusive "Grunty
the Murloc Marine" World of Warcraft in-game
pet.The third expansion, World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm was announced.
Diablo III, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
were available to play.
Ozzy Osbourne performed for the closing concert.
=== 2010s ===
==== 2010 ====
The fifth playable Diablo III class was revealed
to be the Demon Hunter and the StarCraft II
modification called "Blizzard DotA" was presented,
which later evolved into Heroes of the Storm.
Diablo III, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm were playable.
Similar to 2009, BlizzCon 2010 was available
live via an online broadcast on the "BlizzCon
Virtual Ticket".
The Virtual Ticket provided four live feeds
from the convention floor, offering 50+ hours
of HD BlizzCon programming.
DirecTV again offered both days of BlizzCon
2010 as a PPV event ($39.95 USD for both days)
for ten hours per day in both standard and
high definition.
Korean pro-gamer MVP_Genius won the StarCraft
II Blizzcon Invitational.
The vinyl record Revolution Overdrive: Songs
of Liberty was released for the event.
Tenacious D (Jack Black/Kyle Gass) played
for the closing concert with Dave Grohl.
Recordings of the event were released for
free as part of the Live Music Archive.
==== 2011 ====
The opening ceremony showcased a new Diablo
III cinematic trailer titled "The Black Soulstone",
a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm reveal
trailer showcasing new units and abilities,
a "Blizzard DOTA" trailer for a new game made
from StarCraft II and the reveal of World
of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, a new expansion
for World of Warcraft.
Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm,
and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria were
playable.
DirecTV once again offered both days of BlizzCon
2011 as a PPV event.
The GOMTV Global Starcraft II League October
final match took place in Anaheim alongside
BlizzCon.
Moon "MMA" Sung Won beat Jeong "Mvp" Jong
Hyeon, 4-1.
The closing concert featured a performance
from Blizzard's own in-house band, The Artist
Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains
(TAFKL80ETC), who changed their name mid-concert
to Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftains (L90ETC).
The Foo Fighters performed for the closing
concert.
==== 2013 ====
Blizzcon 2013 was announced to be held on
November 8 and 9 in Anaheim.
The tickets were sold in two batches, on April
24 and 27, 2013, and both batches quickly
sold out.
Blizzard also sold special tickets that include
access to a pre-Blizzcon Benefit Dinner.
These limited tickets cost $500 each, with
all money collected from the pre-Blizzcon
Benefit Dinner being donated to Children's
Hospital of Orange County, CA.
Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket
for live online streaming of all of the events
in BlizzCon 2013.The Heroes of the Storm "Cinematic
Trailer" was presented with an alpha version
of the game available for playing.
Hearthstone's' was announced to begin beta
testing and that the game would be released
on iOS and Android.
The fifth expansion to World of Warcraft,
Warlords of Draenor, was officially announced
and a trailer was shown.
The Warcraft film concept art was shown.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was announced
to be released on PC and PS4.
The gaming events included the finals of the
2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series
as well as the Hearthstone Innkeeper's Invitational,
a Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft tournament
featuring a handful of prominent Twitch.tv
streamers.
The StarCraft II competition was won by Kim
"sOs" Yoo-jin, World of Warcraft arena was
won by team Skill-Capped and Hearthstone was
won by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski.
The closing concert was performed by Blink-182.
==== 2014 ====
The tickets went on sale May 7 and 10, 2014.
In addition, a limited number of tickets went
on sale May 15 for $750 with proceeds benefiting
Children's Hospital of Orange County, this
included admission.
For 2014, tickets were sold via Eventbrite
instead of the Blizzard Store.
Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket
for live online streaming of all of the events.
Overwatch, a new class-based multi-player
shooter, was announced on November 7, 2014.
The third part of Starcraft II, Legacy of
the Void was announced.
The first expansion pack for Hearthstone,
Goblins vs. Gnomes, was also announced on
the same day.
The first Hearthstone World Championship was
hosted at the event.
The 2014 StarCraft II World Championship Series
Global Finals was won by Lee "Life" Seung
Hyun beating Mun "MMA" Seong Won.
The World of Warcraft championship was won
by team Bleached Bones.
Hearthstone was won by James "Firebat" Kostesich
and first official tournament in Heroes of
the Storm was held at the event that was won
by team Cloud 9.
The closing ceremony concert was opened by
Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftains (changed
their name during the show to Elite Tauren
Chieftains) and closed by Metallica.
==== 2015 ====
The tickets went on sale on April 15 and 18
using Eventbrite, and were sold out nearly
instantly.
Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket
for live online streaming of all of the events
held at BlizzCon.
The convention's online broadcast was watched
by over 10 million people.
Hearthstone's third adventure, League of Explorers,
was announced on November 6, 2015, which was
later released on November 12.
Overwatch was announced to have a Q2 2016
release date, later confirmed for May 24.
The expansion World of Warcraft: Legion released
its cinematic trailer and announced a release
date on or before September 21, 2016 and was
playable.
The Warcraft (film) released its first official
trailer and revealed its release date of June
10, 2016.
StarCraft II was announced to have upcoming
single player mission packs, Nova Covert Ops,
which each consist of three missions.
The 2015 Heroes of the Storm World Championship
and the second Hearthstone World Championship
were hosted at the event.
Hearthstone was won by Sebastian "Ostkaka"
Engwall and Heroes of the Storm was won by
team Cloud 9 again.
The 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series
Global Finals was won by Kim "sOs" Yoo-jin
beating last year's winner Lee "Life" Seung
Hyun and becoming the first two-time StarCraft
II World Championship Series world champion.
The World of Warcraft arena team championship
was won by SK Gaming.
The closing concert was performed by Linkin
Park.
==== 2016 ====
Blizzcon 2016, also known as BlizzCon X, was
the tenth BlizzCon event.
Its tickets were sold on April 20 and 23 using
the ticketing service Universe.
Blizzard offered a Virtual Ticket for live
online streaming of all of the esports events
and major panels, remaining at the $39.99
price.
Other panels and interviews in smaller rooms
were not included for streaming.
In September 2016, Blizzard Entertainment
released a sneak peek at the BlizzCon 2016
in-game item rewards and offered for the first
time the "goody bag", normally only for physical
attendees, was offered for sale to virtual
ticket holders.The fourth expansion for Hearthstone,
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, was announced on
November 4, 2016, and was later released on
December 1, 2016.Overwatch officially announced
the hero Sombra, Blizzard announced the creation
of an official esports league for Overwatch.
It was announced that Diablo III would include
a remake of Diablo and the necromancer hero
class would be added in a DLC.The gaming events
at BlizzCon 2016 included the 2016 StarCraft
II World Championship Series Global Finals
won by Byun "ByuN" Hyun Woo, the World of
Warcraft arena championship, the Hearthstone
third world championship, the Heroes of the
Storm fall championship, and the Overwatch
World Cup.Kristian Nairn, who played Hodor
on the HBO series Game of Thrones, was the
DJ during Blizzard's 25th anniversary party.
The closing ceremony concert was performed
by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
==== 2017 ====
On March 14, Blizzard Entertainment announced
that BlizzCon 2017 was held on November 3
and 4, with tickets being available to purchase
on April 5 and 8 using the ticketing service
Universe; an unprecedented third round happened
on July 5 due to the convention center adding
a new hall.
The prices for both admission and the benefit
dinner remained at $199 and $750 respectively.
On September 13, 2017, Virtual Tickets began
being sold; this ticket included a faction-specific
flying mount in World of Warcraft, and other
special items in the various Blizzard games.Blizzcon
2017 had a record number of more than 35,000
attendees due to a recently completed expansion
of the Anaheim Convention Center.At Blizzcon
the gaming announcements included that the
next expansion to World of Warcraft would
be Battle for Azeroth, there would be official
World of Warcraft Classic servers, a new hero
for Overwatch named Moira was added as well
as a new map called "Blizzard World", StarCraft
II: Wings of Liberty's first campaign, multiplayer
and other modes of the game are now free,
and Hearthstone's next expansion would be
"Kobolds and Catacombs" and that it would
be released in December 2017.The esports events
at BlizzCon 2017 included the 2017 StarCraft
II World Championship Series Global Finals
won by Lee "Rogue" Byung Ryul, the World of
Warcraft arena championship won by ABC, the
Hearthstone Inn-vitational won by the Grimestreet
Grifters, the Heroes of the Storm HGC Finals
won by MVP Black, the Overwatch World Cup
won by South Korea for the second time, and
StarCraft: Remastered Ultimate Title Fight
won by Bisu.The closing concert was performed
by Muse.
==== 2018 ====
Blizzard Entertainment announced that BlizzCon
2018 would be held on November 2 and 3 at
the Anaheim Convention Center, with tickets
being available to purchase from Universe.com
on May 9 and 12.
A third round of tickets went on sale on August
18.
The price for admission remained at $199 while
a virtual ticket option was offered for $49.99.The
announcements on the first day included Warcraft
III: Reforged, a remaster of Warcraft III:
Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen
Throne, with a release sometime in 2019; Ashe,
a new Western-themed hero for Overwatch; Orphea,
daughter of the Raven Lord, the first original
character for Heroes of the Storm, who will
be given free to attendees and Virtual Ticket
holders; the Rastakhan's Rumble expansion
for Hearthstone; World of Warcraft Classic,
which had a playable demo available for both
attendees and Virtual Ticket holders, will
be released in the middle of 2019, and will
be included in the regular World of Warcraft
subscription; and Diablo: Immortal, an action
role-playing game for mobile devices.
The announcement of Diablo: Immortal was poorly
received by attendees and Blizzard fans across
the board, resulting in a high number of dislikes
on the Youtube gameplay and cinematic trailers,
and considerable criticism from gaming journalists,
streamers and Youtubers.The esports events
at BlizzCon 2018 included the StarCraft II
World Championship Series Global Finals won
by Joona "Serral" Sotala, the World of Warcraft
Arena World Championship won by Method Orange,
the World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon Invitational
All-Stars won by Free Marsy, the Hearthstone
Global Games won by the China team, the Heroes
of the Storm Global Championship won by Gen.G,
and the Overwatch World Cup won by South Korea
for its third time.Closing festivities included
three simultaneous concerts by Train, Kristian
Nairn, and Lindsey Stirling.
==== 2019 ====
Blizzard Entertainment announced that BlizzCon
2019 would be held on November 1 and 2 at
the Anaheim Convention Center, with tickets
being available to purchase from AXS.com on
May 4 and 8.
In lieu of the traditional "goodie bag", convention
attendees will be able to choose between an
orc grunt or human footman statue to commemorate
25 years of Warcraft.
The price for admission was raised to $229
with a "Portal Pass" option being available
for $550.
This new Portal Pass offers several perks,
such as early access to the Darkmoon Faire,
access to an exclusive lounge with its own
concessions and the opportunity to meet Blizzard
employees and esports pros, separate registration
lanes, separate security lanes, and early
access to the convention center.
== Blizzard WorldWide Invitational ==
Blizzard WorldWide Invitationals were events
similar to BlizzCon held outside the United
States
