Blizzard
After four years away, BlizzCon® is returning to Anaheim, California on November 3-4! We’re so excited to get everyone together again, celebrate our communities, and share what we’ve been working on.
This year, the goal is to make BlizzCon® feel more experiential than ever before. It will be a one-of-a-kind immersive experience, bringing attendees into the universes of Warcraft®, Diablo®, and Overwatch® with massive installations, art, and thematic spaces where friends can connect. Whether you’re kicking back in Azeroth, exploring the mysteries of a dark cathedral of Sanctuary, playing alongside the heroes of Overwatch®, or tuning in from home, we want you to feel you are entering universes alongside your friends as you celebrate and experience what we’re building next, and hear from developers all across Blizzard about their vision for our games, their craft, and more.
This is the first time we are building BlizzCon this way, and our vision is that building a giant playground for our communities will allow everyone to create memories, share stories, and celebrate what unites us.
Here’s what you need to know!
Tickets
Tickets will be sold in two waves through AXS: if you don’t have an AXS account already, we recommend making one in advance. The first wave will go on sale Saturday, July 8 at 10 a.m. PDT. The second wave will go on sale Saturday, July 22 at 10 a.m. PDT. Please note that you can purchase a maximum of two tickets per transaction. You’ll find more information about BlizzCon tickets at BlizzCon.com. Some content at BlizzCon is rated for Mature audiences and is not suitable for children: children under 7 will not be permitted to enter, and anyone under the age of 17 must be accompanied by an adult.
If you can’t make it to the show in person, BlizzCon 2023 will be live streamed free of charge. The Virtual Ticket will be back as an optional purchase, featuring in-game goodies, early access to exclusive BlizzCon merch, and more. Details to come.
If you are a member of the press or content creator residing in North America looking to attend the event, please keep an eye out for our press portal, which will open at a later date. International media and content creators can reach out to their regional Blizzard PR contact.
BlizzCon Arena: the Opening Ceremony seating random-draw system, panels, and Community Night
While the Opening Ceremony will be available to watch on screens in every hall, the ceremony itself will take place in its entirety in the BlizzCon Arena. Due to limited seating, a random-draw system will be used to distribute tickets in advance for a seat to view the Opening Ceremony in the arena - all ticket holders are opted in as default, additional details to come.
All panels, as well as Community Night, will also take place in the BlizzCon Arena, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Just like the Opening Ceremony, all panels and Community Night will be simulcast around BlizzCon, as well as live streamed for free to our virtual attendees.
We’re bringing all on-stage stage activities to the BlizzCon Arena as we strive to bring a one-of-a-kind immersive experience throughout the venue. This gives us an opportunity to enhance the experiential aspect of the show for in-person attendees, and allows us to bring a comprehensive virtual experience for those to choose to tune in from home.
Community Contest Categories and Prizing
While we prepare the full ruleset of each competition, here are the basics you need to know if you want to get started on your cosplay, art, or short film now:
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Cosplay
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Description
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Master Crafter
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Mastery of one or more traditional or cutting-edge crafting techniques, such as sewing, embroidery, blacksmithing, woodworking, leatherworking, working with foam, 3D printing, and more.
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Colossal Creation
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Demonstrates excellence in using large-scale fabrication to create a legendary, larger-than-life character. Costumes must be able to fit within a 39”x39” area, be safely maneuverable up and down a 1:12 ratio, ADA-compliant ramp to reach stage level, and must be able to become shorter than 77” to maneuver through a standard doorway.
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Epic FX
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Demonstrates excellence in incorporating special effects such as lighting, complex mechanical or robotic elements, and more.
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Dynamic Duo
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Awards an outstanding pair of contestants whose cosplay represents a legendary set of two Blizzard characters: ancient rivals, best friends, heroes and sidekicks, and other prime pairings.
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Best In Show
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Each category winner is entered into an overall, best-in-show prize.
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For the Art Contest, we will be asking community artists to submit original artwork based around Blizzard’s universes – this can include sketches, paintings, sculptures, and more, physical or digital.
The Short Film Contest will ask entrants to create a previously unreleased digital short (3 minutes or under) that uses or finds its basis in characters, animations, scenes, or themes from Blizzard’s universes.
Full details about Community Night contests and the Cosplay Exhibition, including prizing, will be shared soon: keep an eye on Twitter for announcements.
BlizzCon 2023 Charity Auction
The BlizzCon Charity Auction is back for 2023, a virtual auction for members of the global community everywhere to bid on an array of unique Blizzard artwork and collectibles to benefit a charitable organization. This year’s charity auction will benefit Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization active in more than 80 countries. Their mission is to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies – without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. Learn more about Direct Relief here, and we’ll have more details to come!
Overwatch World Cup (OWWC)
The first Overwatch World Cup champion of the Overwatch 2 era will be crowned this year, and it’s all going down in front of a live audience against the iconic backdrop of BlizzCon! The Top 8 teams will battle it out in single-elimination bracket finals live at BlizzCon. For more information about the OWWC, head to the Overwatch World Cup website.
Code of Conduct
We want everyone at BlizzCon to feel like they're part of one big Blizzard community. We ask that everyone at the show be respectful and courteous to their fellow attendees.
If you witness or experience any activity that puts someone's safety or enjoyment of the show at risk, inform a staff member, security guard, or police officer. We have escalation procedures in place to handle these kinds of situations, and we will take the appropriate action from there.
In order to ensure the event provides a safe, enjoyable, and welcoming environment for everyone, Blizzard reserves the right to remove from BlizzCon any person whose conduct is deemed to be disorderly, unbecoming, who uses vulgar or abusive language, or in any way deemed non-compliant with our rules and regulations.
Zero Tolerance Policy
Please note that BlizzCon show management has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment of any kind. Harassment will not be tolerated at BlizzCon, anyone found to have engaged in harassing or threatening behavior will face appropriate consequences as determined by BlizzCon show management including but not limited to having their ticket revoked and issued a permanent ban to the show. Onsite security and police may be notified in accordance with all California state laws and governing procedures.
If you feel any concerns about your safety prior to the show, please email us at bcsafety@blizzard.com.
Accessibility
We are committed to providing an outstanding experience for all attendees at BlizzCon. We strive for access to all activities—to the fullest extent possible—based on an awareness of attendees' needs and appropriate planning. This includes accommodations for aides/personal assistants, American Sign Language and/or open captioning of everything happening in the BlizzCon Arena, service animal accommodations, personal consideration rooms, and priority seating. We ask that all accessibility requests be made by September 1, 2023, so that we can best meet individual needs, by contacting us at bcaccessibility@blizzard.com. On-site requests will be accommodated to the best of our ability; however, available resources at that time may be limited. For additional information about available services, please visit BlizzCon.com.
See you there!
For more information, head over to the official BlizzCon site, and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date with further BlizzCon announcements.
