IRVINE, Calif. (AP) 鈥� California gaming giant Blizzard Entertainment announced Thursday that its popular event BlizzCon is coming back after several years off.
The celebration of all things Blizzard, which will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, is scheduled for September 2026. Blizzard last held the event in 2023. Next year's BlizzCon will include staples like its opening ceremony 鈥� which typically includes big game announcements 鈥� as well as panels and other experiences.
Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Entertainment, said BlizzCon is part of Blizzard's role as an entertainment company that stretches beyond the boundaries of making games. BlizzCon, she said, is an entertainment platform and 鈥渁n opportunity to create a different kind of gathering well for gamers.鈥�
鈥淭here are so many stories at an individual level, just at BlizzCon alone, about how people鈥檚 lives were changed: I met my partner there. I finally could bond with my son in a way that I couldn鈥檛 before, thanks to BlizzCon,鈥� said Faries. 鈥淲e take that role very seriously.鈥�
Faries discussed gaming's growing popularity in pop culture, and why the medium is at the forefront of entertainment, with comedian Conan O鈥橞rien at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Texas on Tuesday.
She recently spoke with The Associated Press.
Q: What do you think it is about the last few years that has propelled gaming to the forefront?
A: I love that it's happened. I think it鈥檚 been really just wonderful to also witness that change in conversation and zeitgeist and understanding. A lot of the things we talk about now is it鈥檚 really less about, you know, who is a gamer. It鈥檚 really what is anyone playing at any given moment in time. This also goes back to, I think, that the medium is starting to meet people on their terms. If you鈥檙e a casual gamer of a certain demographic in a certain part of the world, there鈥檚 games for you. If you only have so many hours in a day to be able to expend escaping into the 鈥淲orld of Warcraft,鈥� there鈥檚 a game for you. If you鈥檙e a mobile player, if you鈥檙e a PC player, if you鈥檙e both depending on the room in your house, there鈥檚 a way for us to be able to meet you 鈥� and not only cross platform or cross progression, cross play.
That鈥檚 part of where I think the technology has met this moment of making the consumer experience so personal to them, but also so ready made and more immediate. It鈥檚 also part of why again, I go back to, I think, this intersection of the best of the best in technology, the best of the best in creativity, the best of the best in what is entertainment today, where we want it to shape into the future, is really where gaming comes at the forefront, as compared to many other mediums.
Q: How has the gaming landscape changed from one that was perhaps more focused on Triple-A titles to one that now runs the gamut?
A: The models have changed and evolved over time as well. To your point, I think there鈥檚 a consumer appetite for long form, short form, and there are now, I think, so many skill sets coming into the sector to be able to do that in a world-class way. I鈥檇 also say what鈥檚 been really cool is how hybridized a lot of the play styles and play habits have been.
Some of the most followed and renowned creators or streamers are playing multiple games, right? They鈥檙e not sort of a one-hit wonder, so to speak, even if they may be more fluent in certain Triple-A or Double-A or, you know, different ways that we would sort of ascribe labels.
I myself play a ton of different games. Depends on my mood. Depends on, again, how many hours do I have to spend in it? And I love the sort of menu of choices that now we as an industry have been able to deliver for consumers, and not thinking about people in one-dimensional ways.
Q: The video game industry globally has generated more revenue than North American sports and movies combined. Where do you see gaming and the gaming experience fitting into broader entertainment?
A: It鈥檚 helped that a lot of our household name celebrities are also avid gamers, right? They鈥檝e normalized the conversation around when the Kansas City Chiefs aren鈥檛 on the field, they鈥檙e playing a ton of games. We鈥檝e got so many different well-known entertainment names across Hollywood, across film, across music, across fashion, who consider themselves fans of games. And that helps us connect dots. It helps us think about collaborations.
Q: How do you balance the use of AI with what the folks who are working on the games want?
A: You hit the nail on the head in terms of the word 鈥渂alance.鈥� We have wonderful, world-class talent who are always looking at the best in tech, the best in tools, to be able to unlock their creative prowess. What鈥檚 really wonderful, I think, is we take a lens of being very principled in that, no matter what the new technology is. We have peers and cross functional groups who are always talking about, what is the role of new tech in our work, but how do we make sure that it鈥檚 coming from the ground up? It鈥檚 dev-led. It鈥檚 dev-inspired. These are really emergent technologies, but we have to be principled and responsible about how we steward it, how we collectively mine for new opportunities.
But what I love is that there鈥檚 a real energy around this. That鈥檚 always been part and parcel of how, I think, Blizzard has approached new tech in game making. But we have a really good balance of being able to absorb what鈥檚 new, but also think about it from a principled people-first, player-first way, to ensure that, you know, our employees feel good about it. Our games thrive. Again, we鈥檙e just giving people the tools and the opportunity to do their best work.
Q: DEI has been a very big topic of conversation as over the the last couple of months, as some companies have ditched those initiatives. What role do you see DEI playing at your company?
A: I find it such a blessing that both Blizzard, but also gaming in general, has been inherently a diverse medium since its founding, and so that鈥檚 the lens that we were always going to think about it. Not only just at the consumer and the gaming level, in terms of our end results around the communities we forge, but with the people and the talent we want to recruit, retain and advance and empower who make up this organization. That鈥檚 always when we鈥檙e operating at our best, that鈥檚 always been critical to our values and how we see the world.
I also think one of the things that鈥檚 come up in conversation that鈥檚 really important to me is that kind of value, or values-based approach, is what engenders so much empathy in the stories that we create. Our worlds are nuanced and diverse. Our characters are nuanced and diverse. There is a sensitivity to different abilities, different backgrounds, different lived experiences. Nothing monolithic, nothing too obvious. And so we need people who have diverse, nuanced lived experiences to be able to tell and shape the stories that make us great. And that鈥檚 always going to be the truth for how we鈥檙e going to operate.
Q: What more can you tell me about what we can expect from BlizzCon?
A: I鈥檓 just so thrilled to be bringing it back in the fall of 2026 and I think time is on our side. That was a big part of why we wanted to take this longer lens approach to make sure that everybody comes with the best that we have to offer when we get back to Anaheim. But coming back to Anaheim Convention Center is also a key component to the legacy of BlizzCon, right?
It will be our 15th BlizzCon in Blizzard鈥檚 history. So this is a mega moment for us. And you know, I think we鈥檙e just really energized by the opportunity to not only bring it back, but elevate it and really over-deliver on people鈥檚 expectations 鈥� both, again, the players who play our games and have really high expectations for what BlizzCon needs to look and feel like for them, but also for our employees.
Sarah Parvini, The Associated Press
