Each year the opening ceremony is the highlight of BlizzCon, during which the studio addresses fans, takes a look at the past year and reveals the biggest announcements.
Here is a summary of all announcements made, as they happened.
All times in PDT.
Opening Ceremony LIVE
11:00 - Not surprisingly, J. Allen Brack opens the ceremony, He talks about the problem related to Hearthstone and Hong Kong, acknowledging their responsibility for the mismanagement of the problem.
11:15 - Diablo IV is officially announced with the reveal of a cinematic trailer. Lillith, creator of Sanctuary, has returned.
- Game director Luis Barista takes to the stage to talk more about the game. Their objective is to return to the dark and bloody roots of the series.
- This time, the world will be bigger, and there will be trade and PvP.
- It will be an isometric ARPG developed for PC. PS4, and Xbox One.
- The first three classes revealed are Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid.
- A gameplay trailer was then shown.
- A playable demo with the three classes is available on the show floor at BlizzCon.
11:25 - J Allen Brack returns to announce the Blizzard Arcade at BlizzCon, full of older Blizzard titles. He also talks about updates to more current titles.
- StarCraft II: Mengsk will arrive as a co-operative commander.
- Heroes of the Storm: Deathwing will be offered to BlizzCon attendees.
- Warcraft 3 Reforged: The beta opens on Tuesday, and the release date will be announced soon.
11:35 - World of Warcraft's director takes over to celebrate the game's 15th anniversary, and to talk about its future and that of World of Warcraft: Classic.
- In a few days, World Bosses, new raids, and a PvP zone will come to Classic.
- Special rewards will be offered to players logging into World of Warcraft during the 15th anniversary period.
- An Alpaca pet will go on sale, with the proceeds donated to charitable causes.
- World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is announced as the next expansion. Once again, Sylvanas is the instigator, as she destroys the Lich King's crown. This kingdom existed even before the Titans, and is the kingdom of the dead — the afterlife, part of the natural spirit cycle and many other things.
- Shadowlands will offer a lot of choice to players, and is now available to preorder.
11:53 - Ben Thomson from the Hearthstone team is up for the next section of the Opening Ceremony. He reveals the next expansion, Descent of Dragons, with a cinematic trailer. It will include new maps and new mechanics. Legendary cards will be offered to players logging in at launch.
- A new game mode is now introduced, Hearthstone Battlegrounds, which involves eight players in a kind of battle royale format. This will be detailed further in the upcoming conferences.
12:05 - Following a cinematic, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan takes to the stage to officially announce Overwatch 2.
- Overwatch 2 will include story missions and replayable co-operative missions.
- Your heroes gain levels, and skills are customisable.
- New PvP maps, heroes and skins are planned.
- The new Push mode will be the heart of the game, retaining the competitive 6v6 gameplay of the original.
- All cosmetics acquired in Overwatch will be transferred to Overwatch 2.
Here you will find our calendar of new video game releases in 2020 and 2021, for all major platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia and next-gen consoles when information is released.
