News has just broken out of Blizzard skipping Gamescom 2019. The Irvine, CA based studio stated that it were doing this to focus on their current and future projects.In their announcement, Blizzard stated that it wont have a booth at years show in an effort to maintain its focus on both its current games, and in-development projects. That said, it did acknowledge the importance of Gamescom to European gamers.
“The show is an important one for the European and global gaming community,” the announcement states, “And we’re going to miss meeting players in Cologne this year.”
Since it’s first outing in 2009, Gamescom has grown to be one of the biggest video game trade shows in the world. It has become the European equivalent of the Electronic Entertainment Expo and the Tokyo Game Show. While Blizzard hasn’t always taken part in Gamescom, it’s been a fixture in the show in recent years. With their own Blizzcon taking place in the United States, Gamescom has become one place for Blizzard to get in touch with its European fans.
In years where the company wasn’t at Gamescom, Activision tends to pick up the slack, having Blizzard’s games at its booth. The most recent example of this was in 2013, when Activision showed Diablo 3 and its Reaper of Souls expansion in its booth. That said, neither Activision nor Blizzard have said anything about this so far.
What will be at the show however is Blizzard merchandise. The studio will still be selling its merchandise in the Gamescom 2019’s shop area. While Blizzard may be gone from Gamescom for now, it wont be permanent. It confirmed that it will be returning to the show in the future. As for its games and projects it’s working on, it stated that it will be sharing more details on these “when the time is right.”
