Latest news with #Starcraft
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blizzcon Skipping 2025, But Will Return Next Year
Blizzard has announced that Blizzcon won't return this year. However, it will be back in 2026 at Anaheim Convention Center. On March 11, Blizzard formally confirmed that Blizzcon will not be returning in 2025, after skipping 2024. The usually yearly multi-day event started in 2005, where Blizzard regularly announces upcoming games and updates, while bringing fans together to celebrate their favorite franchises. But the company behind Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch missed the event last year, and will be again this year. However, it hid the bad news behind the announcement that fan event would return in September 2026. According to Blizzard, it plans to 'elevate this iconic celebration.' In a statement shared on official Blizzcon website, Blizzard confirmed that the large event will return on September 12 and end on September 13. Tickets aren't on sale yet so we don't know how much the show will cost. The last time Blizzard held a Blizzcon, back in 2023, it charged $300 for in-person tickets. That was the highest it had ever priced the event. Reportedly, in 2023, for the first time ever, the event didn't sell out. This marks the first time Blizzcon has skipped two years back-to-back. That means the 2026 event will only be the second time Blizzcon is held under Xbox ownership. But last time, in November 2023, the deal had just been signed the month before. When Blizzcon returns in 2026, Xbox and Microsoft will have been in control for a few years—it will be interesting to see how that factors into the event and how fans react. Here is Blizzard's full statment from the Blizzcon website: BlizzCon is back! The ultimate celebration of our games and the community that unites us is returning to the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, in 2026. One of our favorite traditions, BlizzCon brings us together over our shared passion for Blizzard's universes, but at its heart, BlizzCon has always been about so much more. It's about you, the communities you are a part of, and gives us the chance to connect, build friendships, and create unforgettable memories together. We've come a long way since our first event in 2005. Over the past nearly 20 years since its inception, BlizzCon has inspired us to innovate, push the boundaries of creativity, and deliver once-in-a-lifetime moments. It's important that we put on an event worthy of our community. For 2026, alongside BlizzCon staples like Opening Ceremony, in-depth panels, the Darkmoon Faire, friendly competition, hands-on gameplay, and more, we aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience for all who take part in it. We are building this event just like we build our games: with a deep commitment to our players, with respect for your connections to our universes, and as a celebration of the strength of the bonds formed through shared adventure. The road to BlizzCon starts here. We can't wait to share more with you as our plans take shape. Visit and sign up to receive BlizzCon updates: be among the first to know when tickets go on sale, and get access to BlizzCon news, special offers, and updates. Follow us on social media on X, Instagram, and Facebook. .For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Russia Today
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Listen to gaming's most important voice standing up to DEI
For the better part of a decade – if not longer – so-called nerd media has been under assault from within its own walls. Wokeness, DEI, and HR run amok have irreparably destroyed far too many franchises to count. But with a right-wing vibe shift occurring throughout the civilized world, a change is coming, and one former developer from the once-beloved gaming titan Blizzard should get his dues for risking it all to lead the charge. Before the culture war dominated so much of our lives, Mark Kern, aka Grummz, was already an important figure within the realm of gaming. Consider him the Greek God of the sky, for he raised multiple titans. As a producer, he helped bring Starcraft and Diablo IIto life, but more impressively he was the team lead on the global MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft. With his contributions to those titles, he forever altered the gaming landscape. Not content to settle and simply end things there, he eventually began a crusade – not just to alter it a second time, but to save it from the clutches of left-wing demagogues intent on destroying the hobby for their own activist agendas. For those not personally entwined with the hobby, it's hard to fully convey just how far gaming has crashed throughout the 2010s and '20s, but one need only look at big-budget Western games to see how devastatingly it has rotted. Military shooters like Call of Duty proudly feature trans flags and other gender-bending propaganda, while in far too many games to count, female characters are intentionally made ugly – spitting in the faces of real women, as the character models bear little resemblance to the actresses used as their base. Consultancy groups like Sweet Baby Inc. are brought in to dictate changes in the name of inclusivity, and if that weren't bad enough, left-wing preaching permeates nearly everything. Fun and meaningful gameplay have been thrown aside to cater to those who don't even enjoy games in the first place. Throughout the industry, most game developers are afraid to speak up, lest they be ostracized, forcefully silenced as gaming turns into a slurry of social justice agitprop. So it's all the more meaningful that, at a time when doing so was nearly social suicide, Mark Kern risked his reputation and career to stand up to the mob. Over the past several years, he has gone all in on fighting back, spending hours on social media calling out injustice and inadequacies where he sees fit. In doing so, he has caused a number of woke games to financially stumble or fail, while also helping titles untainted by DEI – like Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade – find massive success. None of this has been taken lightly by the opposition. He has survived endless attempts at cancellation and doxxing. The replies to his posts are often filled with death threats or wishes for grievous bodily harm. Detractors giddily share GIFs of him being beaten with hammers. His name is constantly smeared, and even his role in delivering Blizzard's greatest hits is questioned. All that is just par for the course for anyone who loudly and proudly goes against the 'tolerant' left – which is all the more reason to commend him, because he has stood firm. It's a massive gamble that is now paying dividends. Elon Musk retweets him often enough, helping spread his message to an even wider audience, which is only serving to unify a growing army of distraught gamers. They are now taking back the medium – but perhaps more importantly, they are fighting back against runaway leftism. The 2014 Gamergate scandal was already one of the original MAGA battlegrounds, but back then, the right wasn't fully united. By 2025, however, the story is vastly different. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are being rejected by the masses, and now government institutions and entertainment mediums are being reclaimed for the land of the sane. There's no doubt a lot of people deserve thanks for putting us on track toward stability and no one person can take all the credit, but Kern still deserves his dues as a commander in the culture war. That's not to say everything about him is perfect. Post-Blizzard, his game development track record isn't as strong, and sometimes he posts things that are a bit too cringeworthy. But that doesn't diminish the strides he has made. He may be an imperfect messenger, but his voice is still one the world needs to hear. Wokeness may be on the back foot, but it's not completely down and out. People like Kern may be the ones to finally land a knockout punch. As Musk loves to proclaim, 'DEI kills art,' and Grummz is how we bring it back to life.
