BlizzCon 2016, Blizzard Entertainment’s two-day gaming festival, returns Friday, November 4 (November 5 AEDT) and Saturday, November 5(November 6 AEDT) to the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California! This year’s sold-out show marks the 10th BlizzCon celebration and commemorates Blizzard’s 25th anniversary, and gamers around the world can be part of the fun with the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket—available to order now at www.blizzcon.com.
This year’s BlizzCon features a variety of events and activities, including developer discussion panels, epic esports tournaments, incredible community-created movies, art, and costumes, and a performance by legendary Grammy-winning pop parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic. “We can’t wait to celebrate 25 years of Blizzard games with everyone at this year’s BlizzCon,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’ll have world-class esports action throughout the weekend, the latest news to share about our games, and fellow geek Weird Al joining us for a concert during the closing ceremony. We’re excited to meet up with our friends and fellow gamers from across the globe.”
This year’s BlizzCon will be jam-packed with epic events and activities from beginning to end, including:
Opening Ceremony
Join the fun on Friday at 11 a.m. PDT (Nov 5, 6 a.m. AEDT) as the BlizzCon festivities kick off with the opening ceremony. Hear updates on Blizzard’s development plans, and catch it online free at www.blizzcon.com.
Blizzard Esports Global Finals
BlizzCon Opening Week has come to a close, but that was just the beginning—now it’s time for the finalists to battle it out for the Championships! Starting Friday morning, tune in for the final rounds of the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, the Overwatch World Cup, the Hearthstone World Championship, the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals, and the Heroes of the Storm Fall Championship! This year, esports aficionados everywhere can watch the Blizzard esports championships for free on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/blizzcon), on MLG.tv (www.majorleaguegaming.com/blizzcon), and on www.blizzcon.com. Visit www.blizzcon.com/esports for more information.
Community Contests
Starting Friday at 6 p.m. (Nov 5, 12 p.m. AEDT), join us for a crazy night of community contests—including the Costume Contest, Art Contest, Talent Contest, and Movie Contest—hosted by comedian Thomas Middleditch from HBO’s Silicon Valley.
Developer Panels
Go behind-the-scenes with your favourite Blizzard games in developer panels throughout both days of the show. You can be among the first to learn about upcoming content for Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, and Diablo III, and join the celebration of two major milestones with Blizzard’s 25th Anniversary Panel and Diablo’s 20thAnniversary Panel. Take a peek at the complete schedule at www.blizzcon.com/schedule.
On-Site Activities and BlizzCon Sponsor Booths
Everyone attending in person can explore a variety of events and activities, including the Hearthstone Tavern and the Darkmoon Faire on the third floor of the convention center. This year’s Darkmoon Faire features the Community Amphitheater, the Voice Actor Stage, the Creative Collective Stage, and more.
BlizzCon wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of the event’s sponsors, who help provide hardware, peripherals, and other support for the show. Attendees are invited to visit our partners’ booths around the show floor for prizes, contests, and giveaways, including:
- ASUS: Play Find-the-Robot in VR or play games to win great ASUS, Intel, and Newegg prizes from the ROG vending machine, including motherboard/CPU combos, SSDs, and gaming laptops.
- Corsair: Snap a pic in the prop-filled Overwatch photo booth, take a selfie with a community star, or enter to win a shirt, poster, or even a custom Warcraft-modded Crystal 460X RGB Case PC.
- Newegg: Catch fun informational sessions on PC building, get some esports coaching, or enter to win a VR-ready computer system.
- NVIDIA: Check out Blizzard games running on GeForce GTX 10 series GPUs, a Google Tilt Brush VR experience, signing opportunities with esports and community personalities, and lots of prizes.
- Razer: Visit the Razer booth for the chance to win a Blade gaming laptop, Overwatch products, and more.
- Rosewill: Stop by for exclusive giveaways, ranging from RGB gaming keyboards and Overwatch-themed collectibles to a custom Widowmaker-themed Cullinan case.
- T-Mobile: Visit the Un-carrier Lounge to charge your device, stop by the GIF photo booth to pose with an Overwatch hero, and watch the Overwatch World Cup live stream. Everyone’s invited to vote for the tournament MVP using #TMobileMVP and the player’s BattleTag on Twitter.
Although BlizzCon tickets have sold out, viewers can still join the excitement from home with the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket ($49.95AUD), which offers comprehensive live online coverage of both days of the event—including the community contests on Friday evening and Weird Al’s performance at the closing ceremony, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night (Nov 6, 12.30 p.m. AEDT). Virtual Ticket holders will also receive a treasure trove of in-game goodies for World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and StarCraft II.
Attendees and Virtual Ticket viewers alike can download the BlizzCon Guide Mobile App, available free for Android and iOS devices, and use it to plan their day, map a route through the convention center, and even watch live streams.
Although he has been gaming since the Sega Mega Drive launched in 1990, he still sucks at most games. When not being trash he watches French horror films, drinks herbal tea and secretly loves the music of Taylor Swift.
