BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.
The first BlizzCon was held in October 2005, and since then, all of the conventions have been held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, near 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 ceremony has featured concerts by The Offspring, Tenacious D, Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Blink-182, Metallica, Linkin Park, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Muse. Blizzard also hosted a similar event outside the U.S. from 2004 to 2008, known as the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational.
Tickets and pricing General admission (since 2005) General admission tickets are considered to be the baseline experience for BlizzCon. It grants access to all panels across both days; play new games, patches, and expansions; and order exclusive Blizzard merchandise online before the convention. Since its inception in 2005, the prices have changed drastically as its scope and attendees have grown.
For BlizzCon 2005, tickets were set at US$120. For BlizzCon 2007 & 2008, the price was decreased by $20 to US$100. For BlizzCon 2009, the price was increased by $25 to $125. For BlizzCon 2010, the price was increased by another $25 to $150. For BlizzCon 2011 & 2013, the price was increased by another $25 to $175. For BlizzCon 2014–2018, the price was increased by another $24 to $199. For BlizzCon 2019, the price was increased by $30 to $229. For BlizzCon 2023, the price was increased by $70 to $299. For BlizzCon 2026, the price decreased by $10 to $289 and there was early-bird pricing of $249.
Each general admission ticket includes a goody bag with items like beta keys for upcoming Blizzard games, exclusive Blizzard paraphernalia, and in-game prizes. The in-game prizes have ranged from pets, transmog, mounts in World of Warcraft & Heroes of the Storm; exclusive card packs for Hearthstone; heroes for Heroes of the Storm; cosmetic wings & pets for Diablo III; skins for Overwatch; and portraits, unit skins, and console skins for Starcraft: Remastered and Starcraft II.
Benefit Dinner (2009–2019, 2026) Starting with BlizzCon 2009, the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, sometimes called the VIPs Dinner, was introduced as an additional ticket option. The dinner donates all net proceeds to the Children's Hospital of Orange County. Guests can meet with game developers, artists, executives, and other Blizzard Entertainment employees.
The tickets included the dinner, signed print of Blizzard artwork, and BlizzCon ticket. In later BlizzCons, reserved seating for the opening ceremony and Community Night on the first day of the show were added as additional benefits. These tickets usually had their own sale date separate from the main ticket. The price for these tickets were:
$500 for BlizzCon 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2013 $750 for BlizzCon 2014–2019 $499 for BlizzCon 2026 Charity Night Addon
Portal Pass (2019 - 2023) Beginning with BlizzCon 2019, the Portal Pass was added as an additional ticket option for $550; it effectively replaced the Benefit Dinner option for BlizzCon 2023. It is considered an upgrade over the General Admission ticket. This price was increased by $229 to $799 with BlizzCon 2023. It granted additional access to:
"Night at the Faire" event in the Darkmoon Faire area the night before BlizzCon starts (BlizzCon 2019 Only) Access to the convention halls before general admission (BlizzCon 2019 Only) Private viewing lounge with video feeds of the panels Rotating set of Blizzard employees and special guests Early convention entry on both days to the Portal Pass Lounge Only Preferred lines for registration and security Preferred parking area Private concessions (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023) Gameplay experiences (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023) Concierge support (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023)
Event cancellations BlizzCon is typically held every year. However, it has been cancelled six times in 2006, 2012, 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025.
The first cancellation came in 2006 with no reason given at the time. Cancelled again in 2012, a Blizzard community manager claimed that Blizzard was working on "releasing multiple titles that year and so felt they may not have anything big, new or cool to talk about". World of Warcraft'''s fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria, and Diablo III both launched in 2012 while StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm launched in March 2013. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual event called BlizzConline was held in February 2021, in lieu of an in-person event. BlizzCon 2022 was to be held in a modified format with virtual programming and "smaller, in-person gatherings". It was again cancelled in October 2021 in order to prioritize "supporting our teams and progressing development of our games and experiences", and to provide time to "reinvent" the event to be "safe, welcoming, and inclusive as possible". This cancellation came amid the California state government's employee discrimination lawsuit against parent company Activision Blizzard. BlizzCon 2024 was cancelled in April 2024, with no reason given. BlizzCon 2025 was similarly cancelled in March 2025 with no explicit reason, but in the announcement, Blizzard stated its 2026 BlizzCon plans.
BlizzCon events YearDatesNumber of attendees (approx.)Closing CeremoniesTicket Price (USD)Portal Pass Price (USD)Virtual Ticket Price (USD)2005October 28–29The Offspring, Christian Finnegan, L60ETC100N/AN/A2006 Not held2007August 3–413,000Video Games Live, Jay Mohr, L70ETC100N/AN/A2008October 10–11BlizzCon 2008 opening ceremony speech, Michael MorhaimeVideo Games Live, Patton Oswalt, Kyle Kinane, L70ETC100N/AN/A2009August 21–22Ozzy Osbourne125N/A39.952010October 22–23Tenacious D, Dave Grohl150N/A39.992011October 21–22Foo Fighters, TAFKL80ETC/L90ETC175N/A39.992012 Not held2013November 8–9Blink-182175N/A39.992014November 7–8Metallica, L90ETC/Elite Tauren Chieftains199N/A39.992015November 6–7Linkin Park199N/A39.992016November 4–5+"Weird Al" Yankovic199N/A39.992017November 3–4+Muse199N/A39.992018November 2–3+Train, Lindsey Stirling, Kristian Nairn199N/A49.992019November 1–2Fitz and the Tantrums, The Glitch Mob, Haywyre22955049.992020 Not held2021February 19–20Online OnlyKristian Nairn, Metallica, MamamooFreeN/A19.99/39.99/59.99 Celebration Collection2022 Not held2023November 3–4LE SSERAFIM299799Free Live Stream (29.99/49.99 BlizzCon Collection Packs)2024Not held20252026September 12–13LE SSERAFIM289N/AFree Live Stream (24.99-49.99 BlizzCon Collection Bundles)
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 canceled 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
A pre-release version of StarCraft II was available for play (the game would be released as StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty only in 2010), as single player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss. Much of the game, excluding the Zerg race, was revealed and explained as well as Q&A with attendees. The second expansion to World of Warcraft, titled Wrath of the Lich King, was officially announced and 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. There were also 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. For the first time, the Zerg race was playable in the StarCraft II demos.
BlizzCon 2008 was broadcast live on both days as a pay-per-view event on DirecTV for US viewers only, offering eight hours of content per day in high definition. 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, including music from Wrath of the Lich King.
2009
To reduce frustrations over low ticket availability for previous BlizzCons, the convention added a fourth hall and a new system for ticket purchasing that used an online queue.BlizzCon 2009 Ticket Sales are Done WoW Insider June 1, 2009. DirecTV again carried both days of BlizzCon 2009 as a pay-per-view event ($39.95 for both days) for eight hours per day in both standard and high definition; purchasers also received an exclusive "Grunty the Murloc Marine" World of Warcraft in-game pet. New in 2019, BlizzCon was broadcast live via an internet stream with access offered as a "Virtual Ticket" and included for pay-per-view customers. 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.BlizzCon 2009 Live
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 BlizzCon programming. DirecTV again offered both days of BlizzCon 2010 as a pay-per-view event (US$39.95 for both days) for ten hours per day in both standard and high definition.
Korean player MVP_Genius won the StarCraft II BlizzCon Invitational. The vinyl record Revolution Overdrive: Songs of Liberty was released for the event. The comedy rock duo Tenacious D played 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 showed 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 pay-per-view event.