As of this afternoon, Blizzard made it official: There will be no BlizzCon 2020. This is an update to a previously-released statement that said they'd be considering the future. Now it's become a more solid understanding that BlizzCon 2020 will, indeed, be cancelled outright. This does not mean that future BlizzCon events will be held, only that here in 2020, there will be BlizzCon whatsoever.
Despite the fact that many people are working from home, Blizzard has managed to serve up a new PTR patch release for its Overwatch game, one that focuses entirely on communication. The team explains that Overwatch's Communication Wheel has been updated; players now have the opportunity to customize the responses they have quick access to, say new phrases, and more.
In recent days, Overwatch League announced that it had rescheduled certain matches that had originally been set to take place in China, but that had to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The makeup matches were rescheduled to take place in South Korea, but now the league has been forced to cancel those matches, too, as the virus spreads into the nation.
Overwatch League, the professional esports league that was forced to cancel a number of matches in China over the novel coronavirus outbreak, has announced that it will hold makeup matches for those events in South Korea. The decision to hold these matches in Seoul was made 'in order to protect the health and safety of our fans, players, and staff,' according to the league.
Blizzard is planning to address feedback about its hit game Overwatch with a new test that will prevent competitive games from getting repetitive (for viewers). Starting with this competitive season, Blizzard will disable some characters during competitions, forcing teams to shake up which characters they play with and keep things interesting. Similar methods are used by other popular games, though Blizzard has been criticized for moving slowly in this regard.
It's that time of the year again: Blizzard has launched the Overwatch Lunar New Year 2020 event, offering a large number of new skins that are unlockable by completing challenges. The game is celebrating the Year of the Rat with a new brawl mode called 'Capture the Flag Blitz,' which is a version of the regular Capture the Flag mode that moves the flags much closer to each other.
One of the biggest announcements of BlizzCon 2019 was that of Overwatch 2. Blizzard didn't give us a reveal date for Overwatch 2, and unlike some other companies, Blizzard games can sometimes take years in between reveal and launch. In short: While many might hope that Overwatch 2 is coming out at some point in 2020, it could very well be a longer wait.
Diablo 4 wasn't the only big reveal of BlizzCon 2019's opening ceremony, as Blizzard also announced Overwatch 2. Rumors and whispers heading into BlizzCon 2019 suggested such a reveal was going to happen, and it turns out they were right. Overwatch 2 will apparently put a heavier emphasis on PvE content, though fans who enjoy Overwatch's PvP modes will be taken care of as well.
Later today, BlizzCon 2019 will kick off, and many of us are expecting it to be a big show. After an underwhelming BlizzCon 2018, rumor has it that Blizzard will pull out the big guns this year, revealing both Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. When you consider that we'll probably also see new announcements regarding World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, it should be a pretty big show.
Thanks to the former popularity of MOBA games, League of Legends developer Riot Games became one of the better-known names in the industry. What isn't that well-known, however, is that the company actually doesn't have any other product that isn't League of Legends or related to it. With the age of MOBAs seemingly waning, the company may have realized it was time to get ready to move on beyond LoL and create a future that may not involve it. And that is what Project A is really all about.
The Switch is a console that lends itself well to owning a digital library. With that focus on portability, there's something to be said for having most or all of your games installed on the console and ready to play, regardless of where you happen to be at the time. Still, there will always be many gamers who prefer owning physical copies of games, but if you're in that camp and you're planning on picking up Overwatch tomorrow, you might want to skip the physical copy and just buy directly from the Nintendo eShop.
Overwatch is the latest Blizzard game to receive an official cookbook, giving fans more than ninety treats and beverages inspired by the game's characters. Fans will find everything from an adorable 'Orisa Sundae' to Rikimaru-inspired ramen and 'Valkyrie's Flight.' The cookbook joins Blizzard's recently launched and officially sanctioned The Elder Scrolls cookbook.