BlizzCon 2026 was epic, but as a World of Warcraft retail enjoyer, I was a tad disappointed at the lack of information.

World of Warcraft: Forever more than stole the show. The announcements of Diablo V and StarCraft were huge, but the fact they're both around half a decade away at least definitely put a dampner on things. WoW: Forever is much closer, set to launch in mid-November (going up against GTA 6 no less).

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WoW: Forever is a remix of the original World of Warcraft experience, complete with OG visuals, old-school simplicity, but deep and immersive open-world gameplay. The game is in beta now, and has already blown up on Twitch and other streaming platforms, as aging gamers (like myself) pile in for a healthy dose of nostalgia.

World of Warcraft retail (also known as 'modern' internally) is ticking over in its own right, with the current expansion "Midnight" holding ground as a solid entry in the game's storied expac pantheon. The next expansion is dubbed "The Last Titan," although Blizzard hasn't really shared much of ... well, anything, about what we can expect from it beyond its Northrend setting.

In my recent interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, I asked how Blizzard would handle the dichotomy between World of Warcraft: Forever and World of Warcraft's modern timeline. There are things about the "classic" game that were objectively better in the old days, one being world-building atop the general levelling experience.

I mentioned how WoW Classic and WoW: Forever's lower stakes and racial starting zones provide a more engaging and immersive experience than anything offered in WoW retail. As such, I asked Hazzikostas if it's reasonable to expect that World of Warcraft's open world in the "modern" game would effectively be forgotten now developers can point to WoW: Forever as an alternative. Ion Hazzikostas said that isn't the goal.

"We do not think along those lines. Those are problems that I acknowledge are real problems in Modern, and things we want to fix," Hazzikostas explained.

Indeed, WoW: Forever even in beta offers a far more cohesive and immersive levelling experience, where players can more slowly and methodically learn their class alongside the RPG setting and racial fantasy. WoW's modern gameplay is designed to speed you as quickly as possible into its choring endgame loop, which while fun ... is definitely less "RPG"-like than the old school game.

Hazzikostas thinks that offering two experiences to players in WoW retail might be the answer, in the form of a new "Heroic World Tier," similar to Diablo. Blizzard already experimented with this in both Legion Remix and a recent mid-season patch in WoW, where some new instanced zones came with a more difficult "Heroic" mode, removing flying mounts and making monsters more challenging to deal with.

"We've done experiments like the Heroic World Tier in Remix ... I think they're promising," Hazzikostas said. "I think we would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan, for people who want a more challenging, rewarding outdoor experience ... as well as more friction, and more purpose. A world where the outer world is devoid of threats or excitement is missing something. We would never say 'Go play Classic if you want that.' All versions of WoW should have that."

Hazzikostas also said that Blizzard is aware that WoW's modern "new player" experience is lacking, and plans to address it again in the future. At present, retail players are dropped into a random island with patronizingly easy and anachronistic gameplay that not only isn't relevant to current in-game timelines, but is miserably easy and unengaging for most players.

WoW: Forever and WoW: Classic offer a far more sensical levelling experience, moving players through slower-paced and more meaningful progression layers on the road to endgame.

RELATED: Full interview with WoW director Ion Hazzikostas

The disparity in quality between aspects of WoW: Forever and WoW's modern era will likely become a broader talking point as both platforms diverge over time. I'm already planning to riot if WoW: Forever gets playable ogres before retail does ...

WoW: Forever already has better lighting, water, and fog effects than retail. Can Blizzard keep both versions of the game well-catered for, or are they going to end up spreading themselves thin? Time will surely tell.

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"Never say never" is the common refrain, but BlizzCon revealed a bit more about the future of Blizzard's games on console than perhaps you might expect.

BlizzCon 2026 was pretty amazing. We got new trailers for Diablo V and the revival of StarCraft, as well as a revival for Warcraft 3, Heroes of the Storm, and WoW Classic in the form of World of Warcraft: Forever.

Blizzard also revealed Diablo 4 for Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time, and World of Warcraft also includes native Xbox controller support on PC as well — eliminating the need to use addons like Console Port.

When I asked Xbox customers on my Patreon and on X (Twitter) for questions to serve up at BlizzCon 2026, the top ask was always about potential Xbox ports.

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So to honor your requests, I put the questions to the teams across Heroes of the Storm, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft about the potential for the games to hit Xbox or other traditional gaming consoles.

All of them offered variations on the same response ... Here's what they said.

"Never say never."

Warcraft 3 had a big moment at BlizzCon when it revealed Forsaken Kingdom, the first expansion pack in over two decades. I asked Warcraft 3 Project Lead Brad Chan if we could eventually see the RTS emerge on Xbox and other consoles, given that games like Halo Wars and Age of Empires have been successfully adapted for controller.

"You know, we're going to talk about it," Chan said, "Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Many things are possible, but right now we're focused [on PC]."

Echoing that sentiment was World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, when I asked if we could eventually see World of Warcraft itself emerge on Xbox and other consoles. World of Warcraft: Forever is launching in November, and will be the first version of WoW with native Xbox controller support on PC. Is that a hint at a console version down the line?

RELATED: Speaking with WoW's Ion Hazzikostas on the future of Retail vs. Forever

"Our focus remains PC," Hazzikostas said, referring to World of Warcraft Forever's new Xbox gamepad controllers. "It's not just Xbox, it's just gamepad in general. Right? I think we've seen tons of people in the community use addons like Console Port over the years, and jump through a lot of hoops to get WoW playable on gamepad — we want to make that easier."

Hazzikostas said the Classic and Forever eras of WoW are potentially better suited to Xbox, given the slower, more methodical pace of combat before the Haste stat was added, for example. "Our focus remains [on PC], but many possibilities exist in the future, and we'll see where that leads us."

Well then, what about Heroes of the Storm? Heroes of the Storm also had a big BlizzCon moment when they revealed the game is well and truly back, starting with new hero Xal'atath. I have a bigger review with the team there coming shortly as well.

Speaking to Heroes lead developer James Yen, I asked if the game might find new audiences and growth were it ported to Xbox, consoles, or even mobile, given the popularity of things like Pokémon Unite. Yen quite rightly noted that their focus today is mostly about getting Heroes of the Storm back on its feet.

"We think about all avenues for where [Heroes of the Storm] could go, but that kind of distracts us right now ... from 'we just came back, let's make sure that the players that have been here for so long — let's take care of them, let's keep building content for them.'

We do have long-term goals, but you know those are more like stars, as you know. Our stars were like, 'Hey, let's come back. BlizzCon, that was just perfect timing,' but we are driving towards thinking about other things. But right now, the focus is, ' Let's give something to the players."

I think it's inevitable, at least for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Forever is already poised to be a huge hit, taking the top spot on Twitch despite being weeks out from launch and rocking in closed beta. The fact that it has native Xbox controller support will open up the game to new audiences across PCs, potentially among users who prefer playing MMORPGs in that format. Naturally, bringing it to consoles across Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch would also vastly open it up to new players, particularly among aging millennials who moved to console from PC through the past two generations. The fact that WoW: Forever is based on classic graphics also means it'll run on practically any modern device at 60 FPS, including the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Steam Deck.

It gets a bit trickier for Heroes of the Storm and Warcraft 3, potentially, though. Warcraft 3 is very much a PC game all up, and RTS has never really found a big audience on Xbox consoles. The Age of Empires 2 Xbox controls are very well realized, but there's probably not an audience big enough to justify the work.

Heroes of the Storm is a bit different in my view. I feel as though Heroes and other MOBAs would control great with a gamepad; Pokémon Unite and Smite proved that it's possible. Heroes of the Storm would be virtually without competition on Xbox and PlayStation, and including heroes and characters from franchises beyond Blizzard would also potentially help it find new audiences Fortnite-style. But it's like James Yen said ... it's still early days for the Heroes' revival.

What do you think? Would you like to see any of these games hit Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch? Hit the comments, let us know.

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At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment unveiled World of Warcraft: Forever, offering a glimpse into the future of the world's most iconic MMORPG.

The future ironically lies in the past, as WoW players finally get their wish: a version of the game inspired by the Classic era, albeit with new dungeons and raids, refreshed visuals, new storylines, and new class balancing.

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World of Warcraft: Forever launches in November, but I got an opportunity to speak with World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas to learn all about what the future holds for the franchise in general, and answer some burning philosophical questions about the game's direction.

On the popularity of WoW "Classic+", and its future

I remarked to Ion Hazzikostas that I was a tad surprised Blizzard ended on World of Warcraft: Forever rather than StarCraft, which I would've expected to have broader appeal. Hazzikostas remarked upon Blizzard's commitment to the BlizzCon audience and the company's core, who have been very patiently waiting for their answer to "Classic+."

"It's going to be a huge part of the future, and will shape World of Warcraft going forward," Hazzikostas told me, "A big part of it is, that this isn't 'Classic,' right? Classic remains, with Vanilla, Burning Crusade ... that ecosystem will continue. Forever is designed to be a third pillar alongside Retail and Classic."

He explained that WoW: Forever will maintain roots in Classic, drawing on philosophical design ideas pioneered by the old-school version of the game. That means a more grounded storyline, more "crunchy" systems, and a bigger emphasis on community building over auto-matchmaking systems. Although he did acknowledge that WoW Forever will streamline many things beyond Classic. Talent trees and specs will be rebalanced, trying to make every class viable (which was not the case in Vanilla), and things like tedious World Buff farming for raiding will also be removed from WoW Forever.

"There's a large pre-existing audience that has been asking for something like this, who are closely connected to Classic. We are trying to position this as a truly new experience, right? This is a new game. There are new adventures here. Everyone can start at the beginning, and will be updated for years to come. That's not something that comes along very often in World of Warcraft. We've got expansions people have come to expect and re-releases of prior expansions ... but this is something truly new and open-ended. That's quite exciting."

Talking WoW Forever vs. WoW Retail, and community fragmentation

On the topic of something new, as a World of Warcraft retail enjoyer, I couldn't help but wonder if Blizzard is going to end up stretching themselves too thin here. There are already things in WoW Forever that retail players are hoping to see emerge in the modern era of the game.

I asked Ion Hazzikostas pretty broadly, will WoW Forever lead to further degradation of WoW Retail's "social" fabric as players seeking social experiences drain out even more from Retail? I made the point that chat channels on my server on WoW Retail are already dead, and WoW Forever will likely make it even worse.

"Anytime we think about any new WoW experience, even if it's something simple or as like a Plunderstorm or a Remix, we think about fragmentation, the risk of splintering communities — because of how important that is to World of Warcraft. So we do it very carefully."

"In no way, shape, or form, do we see any perceived withdrawal from social systems in WoW retail as desirable, or as a good thing. I think there's a lot more we can and should do there. There are still strong communities in retail, but a lot of that organization now happens outside of the game in Discord. It's inevitable that when you offer more solo convenience and reduce friction, many take the path of least resistance, and you end up with a more solitary experience.

"The presence of friction, the lack of automatic matchmaking ... that lends itself to establishing social connections. It's part of the thing that makes Classic inherently more social. On the other hand, it can be alienating for a number of players. It's inconvenient. It means if you log in and want to run a dungeon on your lunch break, you likely can't. There are inherent trade offs here. There remains very large differences between Classic and Modern, in terms of pace, difficulty, right? People who enjoy gameplay at a cutting edge level, Heroic or Mythic raiding, pushing keys ... that is not what Forever is going to be about."

Hazzikostas emphasized that Blizzard wants to make WoW Retail a place where you can make new friends too, even in an era where it's designed for maximum convenience. I really wanted to drill down into this point of divergence, though, as the Classic and Modern games develop away from each other.

Does this mean that we should no longer expect the Modern WoW games to get things that are objectively more interesting in Classic, like a more consistent world for leveling alts? A more polished and immersive new-player experience? A more engaging open world?

"No," says Ion Hazzikostas. "We do not think along those lines. Those are problems that I acknowledge are real problems in Modern, and things we want to fix. We've done experiments like the Heroic World Tier in Remix ... I think they're promising. I think we would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan, for people who want a more challenging, rewarding outdoor experience ... as well as more friction, and more purpose. A world where the outer world is devoid of threats or excitement is missing something. We would never say 'Go play Classic if you want that.' All versions of WoW should have that."

Hazzikostas also commented on the difficulty of performing another "revamp" on WoW's modern leveling system for new players, Cataclysm style, noting that it's a "challenging pitch" to ask players to stick through dozens of hours of leveling to catch up to friends. However, he emphasized that Blizzard knows it has "a lot more" work to do to make the new player experience up to par in WoW's modern version, to help players get immersed in their class fantasy, and learn the story.

On the Horde vs. Alliance, and the future of faction identity

On the topic of class fantasy, I wanted to ask how Ion and the WoW team are thinking about reactions to World of Warcraft's modern story direction, with Horde and Alliance de-emphasized in favor of a single neutral storyline every player experiences. I asked if the choices therein represent budget constraints ... or something more philosophical.

"It's a bit of both, right? Resources are finite, and while the WoW dev team is bigger than ever, we still have to choose where we place our time and efforts. Building two versions of the levelling storyline inherently means giving players half as much of an experience, times two. But it's also a function of the story, and feedback we do get from our players. If a majority of players were saying they wanted faction conflict, then we'd lean into faction conflict. That isn't what we're hearing ... they want more cross-faction gameplay ... it's also story credibility to some extent. The Horde and Alliance being at each other's throats in the face of world-ending threats ..."

I noted here that I wasn't necessarily talking about Horde vs. Alliance conflict open war, but more about faction identity and world-building consistency.

"Horde and Alliance identity is something we definitely want to preserve," says Hazzikostas. "We want to make it clear that there's a deep history of enmity and conflict here that shouldn't be forgotten or brushed over ... but there is a need to co-operate in the face of ... just as was the case back in Warcraft 3 at Mount Hyjal. Nothing else mattered except saving Azeroth. Given the current storyline, faction enmity gets pushed aside a bit, but they're still there. I think it's something we intend to return to in a more central way further down the line ..."

I'm still not getting my playable ogres ... though ...

World of Warcraft remains near and dear to my heart despite having played it for decades. I'm not always a fan of the game's direction (where are my playable ogres, Blizzard?!), but it remains a valuable source of rest and relaxation for me. I have an awesome guild, made lifelong friends therein, and still find myself as intrigued by its potential today as I was over 20 years ago, which is not something you can say about most games.

RELATED: Blizzard explains why World of Warcraft is getting more elves

BlizzCon offered a glimpse at World of Warcraft's near future, and the franchise's potential more broadly. We're still left wondering what's on the horizon for World of Warcraft: The Last Titan, and what might lie beyond the Worldsoul saga in general.

I'm concerned that Blizzard might split itself too thinly attempting to develop three separate pillars of the game in tandem ... I'm also concerned that community fragmentation may become an issue as players drain out of regular Classic and Retail looking for the "newness" of Forever. But it's also exciting too. I've always hoped Blizzard would look to Classic for inspiration when shaping Retail, because I do think Retail could use a little more danger and immersion. Whether or not we ever get it remains to be seen.

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BlizzCon 2026 was an absolute banger this year, with Diablo V, STARCRAFT, Heroes of the Storm revival, and more revealed.

The show ended with World of Warcraft Forever, which is Blizzard's take on the popular "Classic+" request. WoW Classic players prefer the old-school, social-first experience the game delivered in its early years, before retail added matchmaking systems and other "modern" features that arguably decimated the game's sense of community building.

WoW Forever builds on the original classic experience, adding new "old school" zones, raids, dungeons, quests, and new race/class combinations previously unavailable. The game will take place in a separate but adjacent timeline to the current WoW lore, offering alternative "what if" scenarios that won't impact the official timeline.

One example of this is the new race coming to World of Warcraft Forever: the Skyborne elves, available to both Horde and Alliance players when the game goes live in just under two months.

The first bit of controversy is the fact that Skyborne elves aren't simply included as part of WoW Forever. They come as part of a $29.99 pack, which marks the first time Blizzard has ever "sold" a race. If this race has particularly powerful racial abilities, i.e., so powerful that they become "meta," many are wondering if this doesn't effectively constitute a pay-to-win scenario.

I didn't know that aspect of the Skyborne when I went into my interview with Blizzard earlier today at BlizzCon, but I did want to know exactly why they decided to add yet "another" elf race to the game. People on social media have already been mocking the inclusion a bit, given the fact that WoW's narrative and race additions have been effectively dominated by elves for years at this point. Void elves, Nightborne elves, Dracthyr human-form elves — the main storyline is all about elves — and now WoW Forever is adding yet another new elf. I wanted to know why Blizzard leaned further into this, knowing the memes already circling about "World of Elfcraft."

The answer might be exactly what you expect it to be.

"We know that being an elf is extremely popular," Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones tells me, "We know from our own experiences we went through going into Burning Crusade, the ability to have a so-called 'pretty character' on the Horde was a big deal. If you go back to 2004, 2005, the balance of the factions was 60% Alliance, 40% Horde, and we discovered once we added Blood Elves to the Horde, it actually flipped to 60% Horde. Being able to make a very 'attractive' character is important to our players. We knew players were going to enjoy it. We have a really cool story to tell about it ... so why not? They're not the same as the elves we know."

"There are stories that we want to tell here," explains Kris Zierhut, Principal Designer. "One of the places we talked about was Shen'dralas, that space in between Mulgore and Desolace ... where you'll get more of the story about the history of Eldre'thalas, which is what became Dire Maul. Who opposed Prince Tortheldrin when he decided to sap his own people for power to summon demons? We thought it would be a cool opportunity when we're exploring that storyline among many untold stories that we want to finish and expand upon in the Classic space ... we tied that to the Skyborne."

So, there you have it. And its core ... the reason both Horde and the Alliance are getting access to the blood elf model is for faction balance, in essence. It's absolutely true that "elves" are WoW's most popular race according to the data ... although as a long-suffering Ogre enjoyer, I can't deny that I am immensely disappointed in the tastes of my fellow Azerothian brethren. I'm never getting playable Ogres, am I?

It's perhaps "not ideal" that they're admitting here that the reason they're adding elves is due to their popularity, only for the powers that be to paywall them behind a $29.99 package ... at that point, wouldn't it just be better to sell WoW Forever as a boxed product? I'll let the community debate that aspect of it ... clearly a lot of work has gone into WoW Forever. But monetizing races is potentially a slippery slope in my view.

In any case, how are you feeling about WoW Forever and BlizzCon 2026 in general? Hit the comments and let me know.

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One of the biggest announcements of BlizzCon 2026's Opening Ceremony was that Warcraft 3, one of the most iconic RTS games in the business, is getting a new expansion called "Forsaken Kingdom" for its modern Warcraft 3: Reforged edition.

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This expansion will follow the exploits of Sylvanas' early days waging war against the Scarlet Crusade, how she helped the Forsaken faction found the Undercity prior to World of Warcraft, and the rise of Naxxramas.

Additionally, Warcraft 3: Reforged will receive a new prologue storyline, over 30 hours of new gameplay content, a new definitive edition graphics mode, a new Forsaken Paladin hero unit, enhanced features, world editor improvements, and more.

Warcraft 3 is the latest game in a growing and welcome trend of classic titles receiving new DLC expansions after years of radio silence, like The Witcher 3's 'Songs of the Past' DLC and Age of Empires 3's 'The Baltic Powers' DLC.

And there couldn't be a more pleasant surprise than seeing a new expansion for Warcraft 3, which hasn't seen one since 2003's Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.

Judging from the trailers, The Forsaken Kingdom expansion looks like it will maintain the same classic strategy gameplay that made people fall in love with Warcraft 3 for decades.

Plus, the new content looks fun and exciting to play, especially if you enjoyed playing as the undead in Warcraft games. So, if you want to relive classic memories of Warcraft 3 while learning new lore about Warcraft's rich universe, then wage war in Warcraft 3: Reforged's "Forsaken Kingdoms", which is now available on PC via Battle.net.

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Blizzard's worst-kept secret of recent times has been revealed. This is World of Warcraft's take on "Classic+".

World of Warcraft's current retail incarnation is fun, but it's an oddly lonely experience. The game's matchmaking systems introduced some years ago, at this point, really damaged the social fabric of the game, reducing player interactions to the bare-bones functional basics for maximum efficiency.

World of Warcraft Classic, complete with retro graphics, was an attempt by Blizzard to recapture the old-style WoW used to provide, in response to pirated servers from players craving the old-school WoW. WoW arguably had far more RPG depth back in the day, even if it was mechanically more simplistic overall (I do not miss one-button damage rotations and effectively useless talent specs).

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard revealed "World of Warcraft Forever," which is their take on the community's "Classic+" request. Here's how it works.

Players have long asked Blizzard to offer something that retains the experience of World of Warcraft classic, while also providing new content. Blizzard's "Season of Discovery" was their first attempt at this, but WoW Forever seems far more ambitious.

WoW Forever revamps three classic zones and adds three additional ones on top. It also adds three new raids, a new battleground, and a new race in the Skyborne elves (yes ... more elves). WoW Forever also adds "Thousands" of new quests and new content in existing classic zones.

WoW Forever exists in something of a time bubble. The idea is that Blizzard will continue expanding the level 60 experience in WoW Forever, adding new raids, quests, and content in a horizontal way rather than a vertical way.

It's unclear as of writing if this exists in a separate timeline from the current WoW, giving Blizzard narrative license to diverge from the Retail pipeline.

Skyborne elves aren't mentioned anywhere in the current lore to my knowledge, for example, unless Blizzard is going to figure out some clever way to incorporate them retroactively.

Blizzard also teased the next WoW retail content patch in the form of "Eclipse," where players will take the fight to Xal'atath for one final showdown. Given that we already know the next expansion is called "The Last Titan," it doesn't sound as though we'll be victorious in our battle with Xal'atath here ... Blizzard also offered a small teaser for said expansion, although it sounds as though it'll be further out into 2027.

World of Warcraft Forever launches in just six weeks from now, so you won't have to wait long to try it out for yourself.

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While the Diablo 5 reveal was certainly a bombshell, Diablo 4 got its fair share of announcements at today’s BlizzCon, with huge updates to look forward to, including another new class to add to the roster. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony, Blizzard laid out their roadmap for keeping the game fresh well into 2027.

The biggest news by far is that the Amazon class is finally heading to Diablo 4 in the first half of 2027. Following the exploration of the Nahantu and Scosglen regions in Lord of Hatred, the team is bringing back the fan-favorite warrior archetype to her proper homeland of Skovos. The Amazon promises to inject a whole new combat style and tactical depth into the current roster when she arrives.

When Lord of Hatred launched earlier this year with Paladin, many fans thought the Amazon would be the second mystery class given the setting of the expansion and the class link to Skovos, but we got the Warlock at the time.

It's interesting that Diablo 4 devs seem to be striking a balance with their class rollouts, doing something completely new to the franchise (like Spiritborn and Warlock), but also bringing back some classic archetypes, starting with Paladin and now getting the Amazon from Diablo 2.

In the near term, we also have Season 15 (Season of Hell's Legacy) to look forward to. Positioned as a massive franchise 30th-anniversary celebration, Season 15 offers some neat callbacks to the series' storied history. It will feature some iconic past enemies, legacy items like In Geom, Stone of Jordan, etc., and a bunch of stuff pulled from decades of Diablo lore, including encounters involving the Prime Evils themselves.

Attendees at BlizzCon can get hands-on time with a playable version of Season 15 on the show floor in Hall B, while broader details will be unpacked during the "What's Next" panel on Sunday.

And in the worst-kept secret in Diablo, Blizzard officially confirmed that Diablo 4: The Age of Hatred collection is heading to the Nintendo Switch 2. Playable demos of the portable version are currently available in both the press center and the show floor.

There's also confirmation that the long-rumored Netflix collaboration is actually happening.

I hadn't heard a peep about this since chatting to Rod Fergusson back in 2024, I had definitely felt during our interview he held back on answering my question about this "I think that's something that could translate very well to something like that (screen). You know, I wish I had something I could talk to you about today. But in terms of just the general idea, do I think it could work? I definitely do." But even this coupled with Johanna Faires recent comments about Blizzard being Blizzard Entertainment, not Blizzard Games, didn't prepare me for an official announcement. We don't know anything else at this stage, but animated adaptation like Castlevania and Cyberpunk Edgerunners have been such a hit for Netflix, I can't wait to see how they tackle Diablo too.

Between a nostalgic heavy anniversary season, the expansion to Nintendo Switch 2 and the inclusion of the Amazon class from Skovos, Diablo 4 players have plenty of blood, loot, and lore to sink their teeth into over the coming years.

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During the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony, Blizzard Entertainment's popular hero shooter, Overwatch, received a new cinematic trailer for a new playable hero called Doctrine.

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Doctrine is a Support-type hero that glides through the battlefield using vampiric powers to destroy enemies and support allies by healing them with robot drones shaped like bats.

In addition to Doctrine, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Overwatch Season 5 will begin on October 6, 2026.

It will feature: a rework of Sombra into a Support-type Hero, a rework of Roadhog's toolkit so it's not a nightmare for enemy players to deal with, a new Watchpoint: Grimsvotn map set in Iceland to battle in, the return of Dokiwatch, and so much more.

Stay tuned for more info on Doctrine, which will be revealed later today during the Overwatch Developer Livestream portion of BlizzCon 2026.

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Finally, after over a decade of waiting, Blizzard is returning to StarCraft.

Revealed at BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard lifted the lid on one of gaming's biggest rumor mills of recent memory. STARCRAFT is coming in 2030, and here's the first cinematic trailer.

StarCraft has historically been a real-time strategy franchise, often credited with kickstarting the mainstreaming of live esports. The franchise focuses on three main factions: humans of the United Earth Directorate, advanced aliens known as the Protoss, and the Xenomorph-like Zerg swarm.

The classic RTS and its follow-up, StarCraft II, have effectively been on ice since StarCraft II shipped its final expansion, Legacy of the Void, some years ago.

StarCraft has previously attempted a foray into shooters too, with the famously canceled "StarCraft: Ghost." The new STARCRAFT seems like something of a soft reignition of the franchise, particularly given the fact it shares its namesake with the original StarCraft (which is always a tad annoying when discussing games which literally share a name ...). But to me, it feels indicative of a Blizzard intent on reintroducing the franchise to a new, potentially more mainstream audience.

What remains to be seen is whether or not we get a tried-and-true StarCraft 3 RTS, as I'm sure many StarCraft fans will be slighted by the decision to step away from the franchise's traditional roots.

There are rumors that Nexon and other companies have pitched Blizzard to work in the StarCraft franchise, so we'll have to wait and see.

I'm curious why Blizzard decided to announce it so early too, considering we're literally four years away from its stated landing strip. I guess this helps Blizzard ramp up hiring for the game's development; it could also be indicative of the game's potential scope.

From what I've heard and seen, the game has been in development for quite a while already. Blizzard may also have its work cut out differentiating StarCraft from a surging Warhammer 40K, which has truly found mainstream success in recent years. It'll be interesting to see how Blizzard navigates some of that.

In any case, what do you think of StarCraft's pending return? Hit the comments, let us know.

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Long-suffering Heroes of the Storm fans got a small reprieve at BlizzCon 2026 with the reveal of a new hero.

Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA in the vein of League of Legends, inspired by the classic Warcraft 3 DOTA mod. It's perhaps ironic that it was a Warcraft 3 mod in the first place, but Blizzard was unfortunately a bit slow to capitalize on the trend. Riot took full advantage, and effectively cornered almost the entire market.

Blizzard's answer was Heroes of the Storm, which is generally seen as more approachable than League of Legends, which ended up being a double-edged sword in some ways. Without an item economy and slower gameplay, Heroes of the Storm failed to draw in interest from League of Legends and other similar games, but remained popular with a dedicated Blizzard audience niche.

Heroes of the Storm is comprised of characters from across the Blizzard mythos, including Overwatch, Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and more. There are still dozens of characters from across the Blizzard metaverse that fans have hoped to see emerge in the game, but unfortunately Blizzard put the game in "maintenance mode" after the launch of Hogger back in December 2020, promising bug fixes and occasional balance patches only. That changed at BlizzCon 2026 this week.

Blizzard revealed that Xal'atath is now coming to Heroes of the Storm, hitting Heroes' public test realm on Monday, with a launch penned in for towards the end of September.

Xal'atath is the current big evil in World of Warcraft, threatening to take over the cosmos itself by taking control of Azeroth's planetary world soul.

She's a bit of an enigma, with her origins shrouded in mystery, but what's less of an enigma is how powerful she is. She has the capability to level entire cities with her void powers, responsible for the destruction of Dalaran itself.

Blizzard has cautioned players not to expect Heroes of the Storm to be fully revived yet, though ... noting to me that future updates will depend on how well-received Xal'atath is.

It's something of an industry trend to revive classic games at the moment, with games like Age of Empires 3, Witcher 3, Diablo 2, and other old-school titles getting updates after decades of dormancy in some cases. Heroes of the Storm has huge potential to be Xbox's answer to Super Smash Bros. in my view, if Blizzard was willing to add heroes from other franchises. I could see characters like Geralt of Rivia given Blizzard's new collab with CD Projekt RED, and other Xbox characters like DOOM Slayer or Master Chief jumping into the Nexus.

Blizzard faithful might find it annoying ... but a dead game is potentially more annoying in my view. Expanding to other franchises (and even putting the game on console) could give Heroes of the Storm the unique hook it needs to exist in a niche dominated by League of Legends.

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BlizzCon 2026 kicks off in full next weekend, and for the Blizzard faithful, hype is reaching fever pitch already.

Last month, Blizzard President Johanna Faries declared internally that the Warcraft division is now the "top-performing" within Xbox, beating out Bethesda, Call of Duty, and other franchises. It follows a massive year for Blizzard, where Diablo IV's Lord of Hatred expansion landed incredibly well, and a resurgent Overwatch reconnected with its audience and found new players in the process.

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There still exists enormous untapped potential within Blizzard franchises, in my view. World of Warcraft has yet to reclaim the heights of the Wrath of the Lich King days, although I would argue the potential still exists therein. Dormant franchises like StarCraft are waiting in the wings for a big-budget revival, and even classic games like Heroes of the Storm would likely have a new audience with the right business model and investment.

We haven't seen BlizzCon since 2023, as the firm now typically waits for a wider variety of announcements to coalesce before spinning up the event. As such, I'm expecting this year's BlizzCon to be perhaps its biggest and most important yet — in an age where competition for Blizzard's staples is also more aggressive than ever.

RELATED: How to watch BlizzCon 2026

Here are some spoiler-free hopes, dreams, speculations, and information about what to expect from Blizzard Entertainment's big show.

The big one: StarCraft at Blizzcon 2026

StarCraft is coming back this year, after a long period in cryostasis.

StarCraft is Blizzard's flagship sci-fi franchise, although it has been dormant since the conclusion of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void back in 2015. If we're talking about major tentpole releases, the wait has been even longer.

StarCraft is set in a bleak future where humanity is besieged by futuristic Protoss and Alien-like infesting Zerg. StarCraft and Battle.net were both instrumental in legitimizing esports in general, particularly in Korea, where the game's demanding real-time strategic gameplay won over millions.

In the Activision era, former CEO Bobby Kotick preferred franchises that could reach mass mainstream audiences, and eschewed "niche" genres even if their fans were incredibly engaged. Now under Xbox, which arguably specializes in "niche," there's every chance we could see StarCraft see a bombastic revival.

The big reveal is most likely going to be the StarCraft shooter, first reported on by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

Blizzard has been hiring for an "open world shooter" for many years, seeking disciplinary expertise for vehicular gameplay and first- and third-person combat. I've personally seen some early test footage of the project Schreier first reported on, featuring playable Terran marines battling Zerg threats in what appears to be an open-world setting, complete with high-end visuals and cinematic campaign treatment.

It's unclear exactly what the finished product will be like, but I'm expecting and hoping for a full-blown co-op campaign with multiplayer PvE content, akin to Gears of War's new Siege mode, for example, or perhaps something broader like Helldivers 2. Schreier recently said on his podcast not to expect it to be an MMO-lite akin to Destiny, but StarCraft would surely be a ripe option for multiplayer PvE content on the side, or maybe even PvP content, pitting Protoss, human, and Zerg players against each other somehow.

Led by Far Cry alumni Dan Hay, I'm fully expecting StarCraft to lead the biggest announcements at the show, particularly since the StarCraft website mysteriously began "glitching out" recently.

I'm also curious if Blizzard plans to revive some of the StarCraft RTS games as well. Nexon has reportedly pitched to Blizzard to build a game within the StarCraft IP. I've heard rumors that Blackbird Interactive, which was a co-dev on Warcraft Remastered, might also be once again involved in Blizzard's classic RTS efforts — although perhaps that is for Warcraft itself again. Speaking of ...

Warcraft at BlizzCon 2026

Warcraft remains Blizzard's most visible franchise, more than likely, as the industry-leading subscription-based MMORPG enters its third decade.

I'm fully expecting that Blizzard will reveal not only the next major content patch for the current expansion, Midnight, but also give us the full rundown of The Last Titan.

World of Warcraft is in a bit of an odd place in my view, with something of an identity crisis. Warcraft's writing team seems intent on making it more "cozy" and appealing to broader audiences, at the cost of the franchise's historical bite and edge. Horde and Alliance faction war has been edited out of the story, and the game's writing in general has been a lot more "gentle" in recent times.

I've long thought World of Warcraft still has a ton of untapped potential to reach its old-school audience; whether that comes in the form of gameplay or story direction (or a combination of both) remains to be seen, but I'm expecting Blizzard to over-deliver for World of Warcraft in the near future. Why? Blizzard potentially has some serious competition looming on the horizon in the form of the League of Legends MMO, long in development at Riot Games. Final Fantasy 14 has also proven itself to be a viable alternative. Blizzard tends to do best when it has competitors biting at its heels.

Beyond World of Warcraft retail, there are strong rumors of a so-called "Classic+" reveal on the horizon.

Blizzard has been trying to deliver two separate experiences of WoW for some time, with the more RPG-leaning classic rendition of the game re-emerging as a separate experience. Fans of that gameplay style want something more, leading many to think that codename "Camelot" might represent a World of Warcraft Classic "prequel" of sorts, taking place in Azeroth's ancient history.

On top of that, there are also rumors that Blizzard might be exploring Warcraft's RTS roots again. A title, "Warcraft Chronicles," emerged alongside the Camelot codename, and given rumors I've heard about RTS aficionados Blackbird Interactive being on board with Blizzard again, perhaps we could see new expansions for Warcraft 3, or remakes of Warcraft 1 or 2 even.

It does seem like a general industry trend right now to bring new content to older games. Witcher 3 is getting a new expansion, for example, and Microsoft un-canceled expansions for Age of Empires II and III both, as the franchise finds a small but very passionate audience. I think new content for Blizzard's classic RTS games is something I personally highly expect, given what we've heard.

Overwatch, Diablo, and ... Heroes of the Storm?!

Finally, we have Overwatch and Diablo. Overwatch is arguably Blizzard's biggest franchise now, enjoyed by millions across the world. Blizzard's strategy of over-delivering a huge tranche of heroes all at once really helped Overwatch regain popularity, and remains one of the few big service games capable of tapping both Gen-Z and Millennial audiences in equal measure.

I'm expecting Overwatch to continue its upward trajectory with new hero announcements, and perhaps, finally, we'll see some form of transmedia announcement for the franchise. Overwatch's lore and characterization have received a ton of investment in recent months. What better way to top that off than a big-budget Netflix Anime or perhaps even an animated movie?

Speaking of, I'm also expecting Diablo to get the same transmedia treatment. I've been hearing for months that Diablo has a TV show in development. It's unclear whether it's at Netflix or Amazon or whoever else. Perhaps we'll see that revealed in full here at BlizzCon 2026, if it's indeed true.

I expect we'll also hear what's next for Diablo. One thing I've heard is that Blizzard wants the waiting time between tentpole Diablo launches to be shorter, although it's probably still too early for a reveal of Diablo 5 if I had to guess. It's more likely we'll see a big season reveal for Diablo 4, and if we're lucky, maybe more classic content for Diablo 2 like the recent Warlock DLC. This is one area where Blizzard could surprise me, though.

I'm not expecting a new Diablo 4 expansion right now, instead with resources flowing towards Diablo 5. But I could be wrong; I'm excited to find out what they're cooking here.

Beyond that, we'll likely get new content for Hearthstone (perhaps the long-awaited Monk class inclusion?), and I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard also announces other new mobile game spin-offs from third parties, such as Overwatch Rush.

But what about ... Heroes of the Storm? Blizzard's long-dormant MOBA has been getting an uptick in love recently, with updates filtering through, and it even has some esports tournaments at BlizzCon this year as well. A little birdie has been teasing me that this upcoming weekend could be exciting for Heroes of the Storm fans ... what would it look like if Heroes of the Storm got a similar Overwatch-style multi-hero announcement?! Let me have my hopium ...

What do YOU want to see from BlizzCon 2026?

Blizzard is one of the game industry's most legendary outlets, on par with the likes of Nintendo. Few studios have managed to deliver so consistently for so long, creating so many millions of fans across such a wide variety of genres.

I have my issues with Blizzard's direction at times, particularly with World of Warcraft's writing, and the lack of love for games like StarCraft and Heroes of the Storm. BlizzCon is always an opportunity to see Blizzard addressing feedback, however. And we know that they can do it: Overwatch is proof that awesome games can be revived with the right amount of love and investment. Diablo 4 is proof that Blizzard can still deliver top-shelf story writing, too.

I'd love to see Heroes of the Storm get a console port to Xbox, PlayStation, and even Nintendo Switch. MOBAs absolutely can work on console, and with an eclectic cast of known characters, I think Heroes of the Storm could find a huge new audience, especially if they opened it up to third-party characters. Microsoft-owned characters like The Doom Slayer, Master Chief, and even weirder stuff like Banjo would be a perfect fit for the game in my view, even if some Heroes fans might consider it sacrilegious ... it hardly makes a ton of sense for Tracer to be fighting Deathwing in the first place, no?

Adding new content to Warcraft 3 or remaking classic RTS titles like StarCraft 1 or Warcraft 1 and 2 would also help the genre's resurgence. I'd love to see something surprising and new for Overwatch too, beyond new heroes, and I'm intrigued to see where Blizzard takes Diablo from here.

Either way, there's still so so much potential within Blizzard in my view, despite how big it already is. BlizzCon is becoming an industry event in its own right, now featuring content from third parties like CD Projekt RED for the first time. Could we eventually see it evolve to include even more games and franchises? It's exciting to think about.

Let me know what you want to see from BlizzCon 2026 in the comments. I'll be out there, so say hi if you see me!

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For a few years now, rumors have been spreading that Blizzard Entertainment's iconic StarCraft series is being revived with a new shooter action game, and very soon, those rumors may finally turn into reality.

This is because StarCraft's official legacy website has been 'glitching' out recently, with certain bits of the UI warping and turning into static in a very artistic way that doesn't look like real glitches.

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Curious to know what's going on, a Reddit user with the username u/RaiausderDose started digging into the StarCraft website via console commands to figure out what's wrong, and what they found was quite intriguing.

u/RaiausderDose discovered a lot of cryptic messages that resemble medical reports, cargo manifestos, and reports of a group plotting something illegal and nefarious.

Plus, the messages state that they were written in August 2575. Eagle-eyed StarCraft fans have noticed that this date is roughly 69 years after the events of StarCraft II's last expansion, Legacy of the Void, which was released over a decade ago on November 10, 2015.

With BlizzCon 2026 just over a week away, StarCraft's website glitching and hiding secret lore messages cannot be a coincidence. Blizzard Entertainment is definitely planning to announce some StarCraft news at the event.

But what could this announcement be? Is it the aforementioned rumored shooter, a new real-time strategy game, a StarCraft movie, or maybe Blizzard Entertainment is restarting development on the cancelled stealth shooter from the early 2000s, StarCraft: Ghost?

Either way, we won't have to wait much longer to find out when BlizzCon 2026 kicks off on September 12, 2026.

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BlizzCon 2026 is almost here, and Blizzard Entertainment is getting fans prepared for the event with a step-by-step tutorial of its programming guide, floor plan map, viewership guide, and more on the official BlizzCon website.

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So whether you're attending the event in person or watching the announcements at home via streaming, here's what you need to know about how BlizzCon 2026 will work when it opens its doors on September 12 to September 13, 2026, at the Anaheim Convention Center, California, USA.

BlizzCon 2026: Programming Schedule

First off, here's a gallery of the full BlizzCon 2026 programming schedule.

Some of the biggest events of BlizzCon 2026 include:

• The Opening Ceremony at 10:30 am P.T., September 12, 2026.
• Developer update streams on World of Warcraft (12:00 pm P.T., September 12, 2026), Overwatch (12:00 pm P.T., September 12, 2026), and Diablo (1:45 pm P.T., September 12, 2026).
• A live play session of Questwatch, a Tabletop RPG spin-off of Overwatch, hosted by Cassidy's VA, Matthew Mercer (12:00 pm P.T., September 13, 2026).
• Interviews with the developers, several StarCraft, Warcraft 3, Overwatch, and Hearthstone tournaments, and much more.

The schedule also includes the main halls where each event will take place at the venue.

BlizzCon 2026: Viewership Guide

If you can't make it to BlizzCon 2026 in-person, you will be able to watch the announcements at home for free on Blizzard Entertainment's following platforms:

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Battle.net

Additionally, you will be able to earn special rewards by watching BlizzCon streams on YouTube/Twitch or attending BlizzCon 2026 in person by linking your BlizzCon Pass to your Battle.net account before September 18, 2026.

For more details, check the BlizzCon 2026 Viewership Guide.

BlizzCon 2026: Show Floor Plan

If you're attending the event in person and need to know where to go, here's a Show Floor Plan for BlizzCon 2026 in Anaheim so you don't get lost.

Are you ready for the epic comeback of BlizzCon 2026?

Tons of new game announcements for Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch won't be the only reason to attend BlizzCon 2026, as it will be jam-packed with fun recreational activities for fans to partake in, such as cosplay competitions, the Darkmoon Faire, buying merch at the BlizzCon Merch Store, Community Night, March of the Murlocs, and more.

Plus, Blizzard Entertainment is offering a metric ton of in-game bundle collections for its games for a limited time until September 28, 2026, which feature a plethora of cosmetics, mounts, pets, and more.

While I'm personally on a bit of a break from Blizzard's games, I can't deny that I'm curious to see what the studio has in store for BlizzCon 2026, especially since this year marks Blizzard's 35th anniversary.

The rumors of StarCraft making a comeback with a shooter seem to be coming true as Blizzard has begun hiding cryptic messages on StarCraft's website. Plus, my colleague, Jez Corden, has been making BlizzCon 2026 predictions that Heroes of the Storm is getting revived and that a World of Warcraft Classic-style prequel game may be in the works, among other things.

Either way, you can be sure we'll let know you readers know if these rumors turn out to be true when BlizzCon 2026 kicks off with its opening ceremony on September 12, 2026.

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Microsoft purchased Blizzard as part of its big Activision acquisition a few years ago. The Warcraft maker has had a roller coaster decade in a variety of ways, with downturns in hit franchises like Warcraft and Overwatch prevented the legendary studio from finding its mojo.

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Free from the reins of Activision, Blizzard now operates as a limited-integration entity within Microsoft's Xbox division, and the results well and truly speak for themselves. Overwatch is arguably better than ever, with a razor-sharp focus on fan feedback and new content. World of Warcraft still has issues with its writing and polish, but the content cadence has never been so consistent. Genre-defining franchise Diablo has also seen a stunning return to form, with an overhaul of the endgame loop atop a truly spectacular expansion in the form of Lord of Hatred.

All of that painstakingly hard work has seemingly paid off. A new email sent by Blizzard President Johanna Faries to staff this past week celebrated the division's roaring return to growth.

Blizzard President Johanna Faries opened the email rallying the team ahead of BlizzCon 2026, set to go live in Anaheim on September 12, "the weekend will reflect the bold and collaborative work of everyone reading this," she said. "It's my hope that the event can shine a light on the work underway at Blizzard, and that it can serve as a powerful springboard into a new era of momentum and excitement behind our mission to bring joy and belonging for communities worldwide."

Faries also laid out Blizzard's performance through FY26, which just ended for Microsoft with Xbox 11% down overall (owing to some big franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush having a difficult year). While Xbox overall has struggled, Blizzard is one area that continues to thrive and grow.

"In FY26 Blizzard ended the year as the top-performing studio in Xbox's studios division, and this past year has marked our third highest fiscal for top line revenue in Blizzard's history."

Faries went on to explain that Blizzard has begun seeing consecutive years of growth again for the first time since Overwatch launched back in 2016. It's a huge feat considering intense competition from the likes of Roblox, Fortnite, and other service-type entities eating up a lot of the attention.

"FY25 and FY26 were our first back-to-back years of growth since FY17," Faries explained. "Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred and Overwatch drove exceptional performance in particular, with Overwatch delivering its strongest quarter since 2022." Faries emphasized that the success will help them invest even more in Blizzard games, staff, and other initiatives that will "shape Blizzard's future."

BlizzCon could be a really huge moment

The news comes against a fairly negative backdrop at Xbox over the summer, who is known to be seeking cuts to the tune of thousands of employees throughout the next 12 months. Microsoft has already laid off thousands of staff across its divisions, with divestitures hitting Xbox staples like Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, and others. id Software of DOOM fame has been particularly hard hit with cuts, and it remains to be seen what other studios might be hard hit in the coming months.

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Given Faries' upbeat note, it would be dire indeed if Microsoft's c-suite spreadsheet spectres decided Blizzard also needed to bear some of the burden of higher-up managerial failings of late. Xbox's confused strategy over the last few years hurt the division's revenue diversification, leading to an over-reliance on mega-franchises like Candy Crush, Minecraft, and Call of Duty to subsidize growth. A lack of investment in Xbox's core, i.e. console, has led to a decline in the division's most lucrative user base by Microsoft's own admission. Although incoming Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has begun work to strengthen this aspect of the business.

In September, BlizzCon will offer a glimpse at the near and long-term future of Blizzard's universes. We should see the next Warcraft expansion, dubbed The Last Titan, revealed in full. I've heard Blizzard is working on a variety of mobile game spin offs with partners too, as well as potential trans-media projects similar to Cyberpunk Edgerunners or the Fallout TV show for its own franchises. Blizzard is also known to be working on a StarCraft third-person shooter led by Far Cry director Dan Hay, and the next core Diablo project is also moving ahead.

Who knows what other surprises could be awaiting us? A Heroes of the Storm revival maybe?! Higher-quality remakes of Blizzard classics? Something completely new?! It's exciting to think about as a long-time Blizzard fan, but more importantly, it's encouraging to see Blizzard's industry-leading devs have a spot in the sun after many years of turbulence. Faries and the team at Blizzard should serve as an example for Xbox CCO Matt Booty to follow. Let's hope (and pray) Microsoft continues to let them cook.

What Blizzard franchise do you want to hear most about at BlizzCon? Vote in our poll!

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Rumors of a crossover between World of Warcraft and Dungeons & Dragons have become true, as these two iconic franchises have confirmed they are working on D&D: World of Warcraft, as announced during an official D&D Vision Keynote livestream on July 30, 2026.

This TTRPG will blend the rich roleplay mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons with the expansive lore, playable races, and classes of World of Warcraft, allowing players to create their own custom-made adventures within the realms of Azeroth.

Here's everything you need to know about this crossover.

According to World of Warcraft's news post, D&D: World of Warcraft will include:

• Six new Subclasses and thirteen Class Skins modelled after the classes of World of Warcraft — the new subclasses are the Oath of the Ebon Blade and Oath of the Holy Paladin, the Demon Hunter Ranger, the Shadow Domain and Discipline Domain Cleric, and the Path of the Elements Barbarian. Plus there will be updates for the Swashbuckler Rogue, Path of the Spiritual Guardian Barbarian, and Warrior of Mystic Brews Monk subclasses.
• Playable races from World of Warcraft — including WoW-themed updates for existing D&D races and 11 new races for D&D, including Dracthyr, Draenei, Earthen, Forsaken, Haranir, Mechagnome, Pandaren, Tauren, Troll, Vulpera, and Worgen.
• Sixty new Spells, twenty-five new magic Items, over ten new Professions, new mounts, and new companion creatures.
• Over 50 new monsters and 30 dungeon bosses, each with their unique stat blocks.
• Seven iconic World of Warcraft dungeons reimagined for Dungeons & Dragons — These locales include Azjol-Nerub, Blackfathom Deeps, Deadmines, Dire Maul, Onyxia's Lair, Scarlet Monastery, and Shadowfang Keep.
• Twenty-five factions to earn renown rewards with.
• D&D: World of Warcraft, Icecrown Citadel Map Pack and Digital Adventure — these include five double-sided poster maps (22"×30") covering 10 of Icecrown Citadel's boss arenas, two taken sheets for the Lich King's forces, a digital adventure spanning 16-20 levels across five chapters, 10 maps, and 10 boss encounters, and sixteen new magic items to grab such as the infamous Frostmourne sword.
• A D&D: World of Warcraft Dungeon Master's Screen.

Pre-orders for D&D: World of Warcraft are now available at D&D Beyond, where players can grab the core D&D: World of Warcraft gameplay expansion rulebook ($39.99), Icecrown Citadel Map Pack ($19.99), and the D&D: World of Warcraft Dungeon Master's Screen ($24.99) separately or all together in one of two Ultimate bundle packs.

The D&D: World of Warcraft Ultimate Bundle will contain the core D&D: World of Warcraft gameplay expansion, the Icecrown Citadel Map Pack and Digital Adventure, the D&D: World of Warcraft Dungeon Master's Screen, a limited edition Murloc Promo Miniature, and digital pre-order bonus items, which include in-game World of Warcraft items like a Black Dragon Mount, a Gazer pet, a Mimic Chest toy, and a Mimic Chest decor.

The Collector's Edition of the Ultimate Bundle includes all of the above along with special versions of the core rules with book covers modeled after World of Warcraft's Horde and Alliance factions.

Windows Central's take

I was wondering what a World of Warcraft x D&D TTRPG crossover was going to look like, and it did not disappoint.

Its pre-made adventure module is modeled after Wrath of the Lich King, one of my favorite World of Warcraft expansions. Plus, every class and race from World of Warcraft has been ported to D&D's 5th Edition tabletop system, which opens up all kinds of cool party synergy combinations if you combine them with the traditional classes of Dungeons & Dragons.

Most importantly, however, this module will allow us to craft our own stories and adventures within the World of Warcraft universe. So if you're sick and tired of seeing the Horde being pushed to the side, or you miss the "WAR" in World of Warcraft and want the Alliance and Horde killing each other again, now you can, since it looks like actual World of Warcraft has moved on forever from faction wars between players.

As for me, I'll be busy pre-ordering it so I can get my hands on the limited edition Murloc miniature because A) It looks awesomely adorable, and B) I want to take it apart and combine its parts with my Warhammer 40,000 miniatures to make a hilarious Murloc Space Marine figure.

But what about you? Are you impressed with D&D: World of Warcraft? Would you like to see World of Warcraft make more crossovers with other franchises, like, say, Final Fantasy, for instance?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

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World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo fans have been curious what Xbox's plans might be for Blizzard, acquired as part of the Activision deal a few years ago.

Blizzard has been on a tear over the last year, and is arguably one of Microsoft's biggest and brightest spots in an otherwise incredibly challenging environment. Overwatch has resurged, World of Warcraft just had a successful expansion launch, and Diablo 4 delivered its highest-rated launch in years with its Lord of Hatred DLC. BlizzCon is just around the corner, where fans are expecting news on the long-rumored StarCraft shooter as well.

Microsoft announced today that it's cutting over 6,000 roles across its business, with 3,200 being reduced at Xbox alone. So far, it seems like ZeniMax has borne the brunt of the reductions, although other studios like Obsidian have also seen huge cutbacks. Microsoft has divested a further four studios, with another one pending. Xbox's platform team has seen losses across engineering and sales, although Xbox hardware development has emerged largely unscathed.

What might Xbox have in store for Blizzard?

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma previously noted an intent to focus on Microsoft's biggest gaming franchises, such as Halo, and Fallout. Given that Blizzard's franchises are quite easily among the biggest and most profitable in Microsoft's portfolio, I would suggest maintaining Blizzard is well within the purview of this new structure.

In a note to staff today, our sources shared this email from Blizzard President Johanna Faries, which suggested that more information will come down the line.

I'm told there are no plans to cancel BlizzCon for example. I'm also told that Blizzard franchises have a range of transmedia TV and film projects that also fit within Asha Sharma's current model for Xbox's future.

Sources suggest to me that Blizzard saw comparatively minimal reductions as part of today's big "Xbox reset" cuts, although it's unclear what might happen in the near to midterm future. Microsoft signalled that some of its reductions would take place throughout the rest of the year, following this initial 1,500 tranche (which includes the studio divestitures).

Internally, many are criticizing the structure of these layoffs. Since now, many will be forced to spend the weeks and months ahead wondering if they'll still have a job when all this is said and done. That's not exactly the best environment to be working in, to put it lightly.

We'll be sure to keep you updated you on Microsoft's plans for Blizzard, positive or negative, as we learn more.

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On June 18, 2026, Blizzard Entertainment unveiled the next major content update for World of Warcraft: Midnight, titled "Curse of Ula’tek", which will be dropping on July 7, 2026.

This update will take players to the Coiled Isles to help the Troll Zul’jarra retrieve her kin (including her Zul'jan) while battling hordes of giant snake-like monsters in a collection of new Raids, Dungeons, and Delves, and other forms of battle content.

Here's what you can expect from the Curse of Ula'Tek update.

First off, the update will feature a new zone called The Coiled Isle, where players will explore ancient ruins and partake in several outdoor activities.

These include exploring the Vaults of Atal'Ulek, mastering a new custom talent tree to help you survive this land's venomous traps, and killing Elite Enemies spawned at Curse Surges to unlock Cursed fishing locations to earn with a tortollan sea captain, named Tokka.

The main course of this update will be its new Eight-Boss Raid called "The Venomous Abyss", where you fight eight poison-themed snake bosses culminating in a final battle with the five-headed snake monster, Ula'tek.

In addition, this update will feature a new three-boss dungeon called the Altar of Fangs, a new Lairs system where 15-25-players can challenge World Bosses that scale up to Mythic difficulty, and several new Delve Dungeons with a new Venomfalls Deep Nemesis Delve boss to fight.

The Curse of Ula'tek update will also bring a new rotation of Mythic+ dungeons, Prey targets to slay, new Arcantina Quests, and a new Players Vs. Bots feature in its Arena PvP mode.

This content patch doesn't just include new battle and outdoor content. It's also bringing user interface improvements for the Cooldown Manager and Ping System, updates for Player Housing that will allow players to save, export, and import their house Blueprints, new Neighbourhood Endeavours, and finally giving players the ability to welcome pets into their homes.

Of course, the update will introduce a slew of balance changes for all the game's classes, and a metric ton of new gear, mounts, and cosmetic rewards up for grabs.

🗨️ Over to you

What do you think of this content update for World of Warcraft: Midnight? Does it sound cool enough to make you want to come back for another season of raids, or are you holding off on playing World of Warcraft for a while?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll below, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

In a recent podcast, our Executive Editor at Windows Central and my colleague Jez Corden spoke about the rumored StarCraft shooter currently in development.

According to Jez, the project may already be assembling a strong team. This includes former The Initiative design director Drew Murray, who is now working at Blizzard as of January 2026, according to his own LinkedIn.

With that in mind, let’s go over what was said and add some context around Murray’s background.

For those not in the know, Drew Murray has a rather lengthy portfolio behind him, from serving as a design director at The Initiative, Xbox’s now closed studio that was working on Perfect Dark, to later moving to Insomniac Games, where he became a design director on Spider-Man 2 and an unannounced project.

He has since taken on a new role as an associate design director at Blizzard Entertainment, and thanks to comments from Jez, we now know a little bit more about what his role there might entail.

In a recent episode of Jez and Rand’s XB2 podcast, Jez detailed that Drew Murray had joined Blizzard Entertainment back in January of this year, and may be working on the elusive StarCraft shooter currently in development. During the podcast, Jez states:

Jez further elaborates, saying:

“Since January 2026, he’s been an associate design director at Blizzard Entertainment, and I’ve heard that he’s working on the StarCraft shooter. Don’t know if it’s true or if he’s working on something else, but he is at Blizzard and I have heard he’s working on that.”

Well, there you have it, that’s all we know for now. While the project has reportedly been in development for at least over two years, we don't really know much else and we’ll likely still be waiting a while before Blizzard is ready to show anything.

Let me know your thoughts on Drew Murray potentially working on the StarCraft shooter, and whether you even care about a StarCraft shooter at all. And as always, make sure to take part in our poll!

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Storied game developer Blizzard Entertainment hasn't officially announced the next game it's working on after 2023's action RPG Diablo 4, but it's been long-rumored to be a new entry in its dormant dark sci-fi series StarCraft. Thus far, every installment of the franchise has been a real-time strategy (RTS) title, but this new game has been said to be a shooter — something a new job listing at the studio supports.

Indeed, Blizzard is hiring a lead designer for "an upcoming AAA open-world shooter," which sounds like it could very well be the StarCraft FPS we've occasionally heard about in recent years. The listing reveals little else about the game, though it does say the developer is seeking someone with "Proven experience working with the Unreal Engine," suggesting the game will utilize it.

Rumors of a new StarCraft entry in the shooter genre first came in 2024, with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reporting that following layoffs at Blizzard that came after it was acquired by Microsoft for Xbox, remaining devs that had worked on the studio's canceled survival game were "incubating" a StarCraft FPS under the leadership of Far Cry developer Dan Hay.

Blizzard then put out a job listing for an engineer with a specialization in vehicle simulation earlier this year, leading many to speculate that there are plans for gameplay with vehicles like Siege Tanks in this unannounced StarCraft FPS. At the same time, it was also reported Blizzard is partnering with Nexon of The First Descendent and ARC Raiders fame to make the game.

While Blizzard hasn't yet confirmed there's a new StarCraft FPS on the way, this new job listing is a pretty huge piece of evidence that there is, and does confirm that the studio is, at the very least, working on a new shooter game. And while an FPS may disappoint some who are particularly passionate about the franchise's RTS roots, the prospect of a new entry in the series is nevertheless exciting for many.

The 2017 remaster of the original game aside, there hasn't been a new StarCraft installment since 2010's StarCraft 2, released 16 years ago. Therefore, any new game in the series is likely to please its fans, many of which have worried that Blizzard will never return to it.

With that said, though, there's valid reason to be concerned about this new FPS, and whether or not it will actually end up seeing the light of day. Over the years, Blizzard has canceled several planned or work-in-progress StarCraft projects, including the shooter games Ghost and Ares. Because of this, there are fears the developer will end up axing this one, too.

For now, all we can do is wait and see what time brings, though the fact Blizzard is hiring for this new open-world shooter has given fans hope that the rumored StarCraft FPS is still alive and well. And hey, BlizzCon 2026 marketing features StarCraft pretty prominently...

If and when it does eventually come out, it will likely be available to play on Xbox and PC, and potentially on PlayStation as well. As a first-party Xbox title, it would also be accessible through Xbox Game Pass.

🗨️ Would you play a StarCraft FPS?

Blizzard bringing back its dormant sci-fi RTS franchise StarCraft with an FPS game would be quite an event, and would no doubt revitalize the property after years and years of nothing new for its fans to enjoy.

If we do end up getting a StarCraft shooter game, will you play it? Let me know how you feel about the concept in the comments, and vote in our poll.

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Overwatch is going through something of a renaissance right now. After dropping the “2” and reverting back to just Overwatch, players have returned in huge numbers, thanks in no small part to the arrival of Jetpack Cat.

The game has already beaten its all-time Steam player record, and it is climbing the charts again on both Xbox and PlayStation.

Now Blizzard is turning its attention to mobile. It has announced Overwatch Rush and even shared an early gameplay preview, so here is a quick breakdown of what to expect.

What is Overwatch Rush?

Overwatch Rush is a brand new game set in the same universe, designed specifically for mobile. It is a top-down hero shooter, which makes it very different from its first-person PC and console counterparts.

It is being developed by a separate team within Blizzard to avoid disrupting work on the main game. Overwatch Rush is aimed squarely at mobile players, and from what we have seen so far, it does not look bad at all.

Based on the preview, the game features heroes such as Soldier 76 (my favorite), Reinhardt, Pharah, Reaper, Lúcio, Mercy, and Tracer. The full roster has not yet been confirmed.

Ultimate abilities are present, and the gameplay appears to revolve around objectives, much like the main game.

The preview does a solid job of showing what players can expect. There is no release date yet, but Blizzard is encouraging players to join the official Discord for updates.

The minimum requirement is 3GB of RAM. Blizzard provides examples for supported devices, including the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G and Google Pixel 4a on Android, as well as the iPhone XS and iPhone SE 2nd Gen on iOS, which are decently old phones by today's standards.

Controller support is not available in the current version, though Blizzard says it is exploring the option as development continues.

Unfortunately, that is all we know for now. Even so, it looks promising, and while I am not heavily into Overwatch myself, I can see myself giving this one a try.

Personally I'd like to see it make its way past mobile, the game looks perfect for the Nintendo Switch, and I mean why not Xbox and PlayStation too?

Passing it over to you!

What do you think about Overwatch heading to mobile with a top down spin off? Let us know in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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Diablo 2: Resurrected's new Reign of the Warlock expansion, complete with a new class, a host of quality-of-life changes, and a ton of new items, has officially arrived not only on Battle.net, but also on Xbox Game Pass (with an additional expansion purchase) and Steam.

I must commend Blizzard and its partners; they did a great job of keeping the lid on this thing right up until the official reveal yesterday, and it made the presentation that much more special.

When the Diablo 2: Resurrected logo appeared between Diablo Immortal and Diablo 4 badges in the Warlock reveal trailer? Goosebumps.

To say it's great to see the ARPG that defined the genre receive the biggest content update about 25 years after the Lord of Destruction expansion in 2001 is a massive understatement.

I'm shocked. I still cannot believe it's true. I still feel like this is a global prank played on me alone. It's a feeling akin to the one I had when seeing Diablo 2's Resurrected remaster for the first time about five years ago.

I spent last night running through Diablo 2's Normal difficulty with the new Warlock class. I took my time reading the new class skills, studying how they interact with each other through synergies. I fretted about where I should spend my skill points. I pondered the viability of a dual-tree build. I picked up everything, hoping it was something new.

As I played the new Reign of the Warlock expansion, I had a strange feeling wash over me. For the first time in probably a decade (or more), I was running through Sanctuary without knowing everything about it. Friends in my demon-slaying party were suddenly dismayed that I didn't have an answer for every question.

👉 Why Diablo II is still my favorite action RPG 20 years later

Diablo 2 and its faithful Resurrected remaster are my favorite games. That's no secret; I've written about them many times over the years here at Windows Central. Just last month, I shared a retrospective piece about D2R's past, present, and future, coming to the conclusion that the game was unlikely to receive a content update anywhere near as big as Reign of the Warlock.

Sometimes it's great to be wrong.

Blizzard can still wow us with Diablo 2 more than 25 years later

Yesterday's reveal was felt deeply by a lot of people. Diablo 2 is a legendary game that's attracted countless players over the years, and for many of us, it's still the best ARPG on the market.

A lot of players would have been happy with some extra stash tabs and some stackable currency slots. A lot of players would have likely paid a small sum to get them.

But an entirely new class? New items and runewords? New endgame content? A built-in grail mechanic with rewards for finding every item in the game? New ways to fight Terror Zones? A built-in LOOT FILTER?! This is far more content than most of us were expecting, and the reactions online say it all.

"I just cried. Already bought," said one Reddit user. "What a day to be a D2 fan," said another. Tears over a video game? It's certainly possible, and it goes to show how beloved the game really is.

The same discourse is going on over at X (formerly Twitter), with players expressing their disbelief at the Reign of the Warlock expansion.

Of course, any modern video game news comes with its share of detractors. Some people seem upset that Blizzard is charging $25 for the expansion, while others bemoan the fact that Reign of the Warlock can't be played with legacy graphics.

I think Blizzard's decision to make Reign of the Warlock a "fork" of Diablo 2: Resurrected is smart. Players can decide if they want to port their existing characters into the new universe, leaving core D2R separately playable for purists.

Let's not forget the fact that it's now available on Steam with Deck Verification, a huge revelation for all handheld gamers who didn't want to install the Battle.net launcher.

With a new online ladder season kicking off on February 20, it feels like Diablo 2: Resurrected was just re-resurrected. What a time to be alive.

Excited for the new Reign of the Warlock expansion for Diablo 2: Resurrected? Have you already jumped in to try it out? Let me know in the comments section!

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Diablo 2 fans just got a bombshell: Reign of the Warlock is the first DLC for the game in 25 years and has just shadow-dropped to play TODAY. Happy 30th Anniversary, Diablo fans!

Before the big announcement, a bunch of other media and I had the chance to sit down with the Diablo 2 dev team, namely Matthew Cederquist (Lead Producer) and Tim Vasconcellos (Designer), to discuss the first new class in Diablo 2 in over 25 years.

"We saw the 30th Anniversary as a chance to surprise and delight, right? I don't think anyone expected a new class and all these features in Diablo 2. I sure hope it's as epic to the players as we find it. Is it a declaration of something new? We're going to have to see what the players say, you know."

Let's dive into how and why behind the most unexpected DLC in aRPG history!

The challenge of modifying a masterpiece

Diablo 2, despite its Resurrected remaster, is effectively a 25-year-old game with its last really meaningful content added with Lord of Destruction in 2001. So, how has the dev team navigated designing new content for an old game without ruining what made it a classic?

Matthew Cederquist compared the game to the "Mona Lisa," stating, "We’re not going to give her some sunglasses and a new hairdo." The team relied on specific design pillars, which they call their "North Star," when designing for Diablo 2. It must be multiplayer-focused but possible for single players, it must prioritize player choice over approachability, and ultimately, it needs to respect the "long chase," which is Diablo 2's signature difficulty and item rarity.

Tim Vasconcellos added that the Warlock was built to feel as if it had launched with the original game. To achieve this, the team has even integrated subtle nods like Diablo I icons into the skill tree to maintain a sense of legacy familiarity. "we know we're going to have new players, but our focus and our target target audience is really these people that have stuck around for this long, we still have this very visible audience of, like, millions of people playing."

The only difference is that the toggle graphics button, which switches the game to its OG visuals, does not work with the newly added Warlock. The button will still work for the environment, but the Warlock will remain 3D.

The "Pokemon" mechanics of Warlock gameplay

The binding mechanic the Warlock wields, where he can bind demons to his will, is a pretty complex system for Diablo 2. The devs told us how much the team agonized over this behind the scenes.

Tim revealed that they went through nearly every demon in the game and gave them specific data rows. There are over 180 combinations of demons you can Bind or Devour.

Unlike the Necromancer’s "Revive" (which just brings a monster back to fight), the Warlock’s Bind/Consume loop allows you to keep a demon, "supercharge" it with elite affixes, and then eat it to gain "flavorful benefits that could potentially break the game."

Tim also noted that the Diablo 2 Warlock has a "Hexblade" tree (melee/magic hybrid) that is unique to Diablo 2 Resurrected and isn't present in the Diablo 4 or Immortal versions of the class.

The Lore implications of it all

For the followers of Diablo lore (yes, there are many of us!), you may be wondering how the Warlock controls these demons? Can he control Mephisto?

The explanation for this will develop over the course of the Warlock's journey in the 3 games (2, Immortal, and 4), but for Diablo 2 at least, the developers told us the Warlock uses "iron willpower" and dominance to control demons, not technology like the Soul Stones. He'll be an idealist scholar who studied the ancient Vizjerei (which ultimately failed to control demons) and believes his will is strong enough to succeed where the Vizjerei failed. Overall, though, there is a physical cost to using this power, so don't expect to mind-control Diablo himself.

The main point made here, however, is that the Warlocks are outcasts as a class because of their chosen power, but they view demons as objects and tools to an end, not as their partners.

Rahul Kohli as the voice of the Occult

The narrative core of the Warlock is defined by a descent from a life of luxury into the grim reality of a self-imposed outcast. In Diablo 2: Resurrected, acclaimed actor Rahul Kohli provides the voice for the Warlock, lending a disciplined yet ominous tone to the character’s introduction. Brits will know Kohli from various BBC shows, but he's most recently been in Netflix's House on Bly Manor and Midnight Mass. You'll also have heard his voice work in Gears 5, Fallout 76, and soon, Saros.

Kohli recorded 72 distinct voice lines to establish the character's persona as he steps out of the shadows for the first time. The development team noted that working with Kohli was an "epic experience," as he brought a specific "texture" and "foibles" to the character that helped define him as more than just a generic summoner.

"There's 72 [lines], but there are like 48 that are associated with quests, and the rest of them are like 'DIE' 'IT'S TIME TO DIE'"

How the Diablo audience moves around the franchise

While it's interesting, but not exactly shocking, that Diablo 2: Resurrected still has millions of players, and will appreciate this content. We all wondered if Diablo 3 was still receiving as much love.

"There are actually millions of people who still play Diablo 3! We started on Diablo 3, actually creating seasons. Seasonal content started off really slow, and then we grew into something like Altar of Rites. Even when Diablo 4 came out, some players were cannibalized and brought over, but there's still a massive Diablo 3 player base that we love to serve and talk to.

Every single Ladder season that comes out, you will see people transition from Diablo 4 back to Diablo 3 and play, you know, for that opening weekend or that week or so, and then they'll transition right back to Diablo 4 and vice versa and even into Diablo 2. I think that's the cool thing about our community: it's less like World of Warcraft Classic, where that's your home. You don't leave. There's so much inter-cannibalization."

"It's not the case where you would have, say, a consistent Diablo 2 Resurrected audience that is bigger than Diablo 3's, for instance. Our games fluctuate wildly because of those seasonal contents. Everyone comes back for a ladder race, and we separate them for that to happen. So we're never going to have a D3 ladder stepping over a D2 ladder that's stepping over a D4 ladder. We want players to be able to say, ok let me jump into this flavour of Diablo today."

Here's to hoping for a smooth launch for the Diablo 2 Resurrected team

Huge thanks to the team at Blizzard for inviting me out to get this early look at the Warlock and chat with the creators behind Sanctuary’s legacy. It is rare to see a developer show this much love to a 25-year-old masterpiece, and after seeing it in action, I can safely say the "long chase" has never felt better.

Reign of the Warlock is available right now for $24.99 on Battle.net, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.

This DLC pack includes the full Warlock class for Diablo 2: Resurrected, along with a suite of cross-game celebration items: a Horadric Cube housing item for World of Warcraft, and a dedicated set of wings and a new pet for Diablo 4. Whether you’re a veteran of the original or a newcomer joining via Game Pass, there has never been a better time to descend back into the Cathedral.

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Xbox has had a tough time lately, just as Microsoft has broadly struggled with public perception, facing criticism over its heavy AI push and what many see as half-baked updates to Windows.

Since acquiring Activision Blizzard and King in 2023, many have wondered how that shift has affected studios like Blizzard. Now, thanks to an exclusive interview by our own Jennifer Young with Blizzard president Johanna Faries, we have a clearer picture of how things are working behind the scenes.

How Blizzard works with Xbox behind the scenes

As many will be relieved to hear, Xbox has not become some all-seeing overlord of Blizzard. Instead, Johanna Faries makes it clear that Xbox’s day-to-day approach is framed around support, often asking, “How can we help?”

Xbox has often been praised, and sometimes criticized, for its hands-off approach with studios. Some believe it needs greater involvement, especially after several game cancellations last year and a perceived lack of updates for certain titles.

Here, though, the situation feels different. Blizzard appears to be firmly in control, and it is a long-standing studio that understands how to manage its own direction.

Recently, Overwatch, one of its flagship IPs, saw a major resurgence. It even surpassed 150,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, highlighting that Blizzard still knows how to drive engagement when it matters. You can read the full interview with juicy details, and I highly recommend you do.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

In an exclusive interview here on Windows Central, Blizzard president Johanna Faries spoke with our own Jennifer Young about a wide range of topics as the company approaches its 35th anniversary.

One of the most interesting questions focused on whether Blizzard’s iconic IP could receive the same kind of adaptation treatment as the hugely successful Fallout TV show.

It wasn’t a "no". So, let’s take a closer look at exactly what was said.

During the interview, Jen boldly asked the president of Blizzard whether the company’s IP could receive the TV treatment following the huge success of the Fallout TV show.

The series recently concluded its second season, holds a 96% score from both viewers and critics on Rotten Tomatoes, boosted player counts for the games, and the third season is currently being written, according to Todd Howard.

When asked, Faries responded:

Faries also confirmed that “exciting conversations” are happening, but Blizzard is not willing to move forward unless it meets its own high standards. It leaves the door open for a Blizzard IP to be adapted.

This also would not be the first time Blizzard has stepped outside of video games. The 2016 live-action Warcraft movie came and went, and while I remember finding it quite enjoyable, it never received a sequel.

Blizzard has also told shorter animated stories within its universe, but nothing on the scale of a full TV show. Still, the fact that it is not impossible is exciting. And if you want to know more about what was discussed, I highly recommend reading the full interview.

Would you want to see a Blizzard IP adapted for TV or film? Let us know in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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It's a big day for Overwatch, Blizzard's ten-year old free-to-play PvP hero shooter that was once one of the most popular FPS titles in the world. In fact, it's the biggest day it's had in years, and the biggest day it's ever had on Valve's PC gaming platform Steam.

Today saw the release of Overwatch's new Season 1 update and its Reign of Talon revamp that dropped the "2" from the title, added five new hero characters, began a new live-service structure with year-long story arcs and faster hero releases, and implemented a suite of additions, tweaks, and improvements to the shooter's systems. The patch notes are a mile long; it's the biggest update Overwatch has had in ages.

As a result, the game is absolutely blowing up right now, and is flying far higher than it ever has on Steam in particular (we don't have public console metrics, sadly). At the time of writing, it's managed a peak concurrent player count of 165,651 on the Steam charts according to SteamDB — over double the previous record of 75,608 it set when the game got its release on the platform in Spring 2023.

Notably, that makes it the fourth most-played game on Steam right now, under Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, and ARC Raiders, and just above the surging Helldivers 2 that's in the thick of its new Cyberstan update. Its direct competitor Marvel Rivals is in 11th place in comparison, with 83,316 in-game at the moment.

Those are some huge results for the launch of Reign of Talon, especially since a huge chunk of Overwatch's PC player base uses Battle.net. They were also somewhat expected, admittedly, with how Overwatch was surging past Call of Duty and Battlefield on Steam before the update even released, but they're no less impressive.

It's also worth noting that Overwatch's new Season 1 update is bringing in some extremely strong stream viewership as well. Right now, roughly 165K people are watching Overwatch on Twitch, per the Twitch directory; that's enough to make it the most-watched game on the platform currently, a full 40K viewers above the second place League of Legends.

Clearly, the steps that Blizzard is taking to make Overwatch better — the story having a stronger and more consistent presence, a speedier cadence of live-service content delivery, and a host of quality-of-life improvements — are resonating with players, and inspiring them to either come back to give the game another chance or give it a fair shake for the first time.

That's been reflected in the game's recent user reviews on Steam, which were "Mostly Negative" like the total reviews were until Blizzard announced its big overhaul last week. Soon after, it got enough blue thumbs up to rise it up to "Mixed." Blizzard is taking Overwatch in the right direction, and players are letting it know.

Ultimately, I do have my doubts that we'll see Overwatch maintain these kinds of numbers for long, and I expect some fans will gradually fall off of the game after they've experienced everything new in Season 1. But with Blizzard promising richer, denser seasonal updates moving forward, Overwatch has strong potential to attract and hold onto a much healthier community of players than it's had in the past few years.

As they say, only time will tell. But what's been made abundantly clear is that Blizzard is committing to Overwatch's future, and is eager to shed the era of Overwatch 2 and its controversies like the canceled PvE mode for brighter times.

Are you excited about Overwatch and its future? Will you come back to the game to check out everything new in Season 1, or give it a try if you've never played before? Let me know how you're feeling in the comments.

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The dawn of a new era for Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play, decade-old PvP hero shooter Overwatch has now officially risen, with the studio dropping the "2" from its title, releasing five new hero characters at once, and kicking off a relaunch today that revamps several different aspects of the game.

First revealed last week, the Overwatch Season 1 update is now live, and kicks off the game's next chapter. With Season 1 — dubbed "Conquest" — the Reign of Talon begins, which is the first of the franchise's new year-long story arcs that develop over the course of six seasons. Vendetta defeating Doomfist and taking control of Talon serves as its starting point.

Season 1 also brings the start of a five-week long meta faction war of sorts, with players able to declare allegiance to either Overwatch or Talon and then complete weekly missions for rewards, with the side that finishes more netting themselves a bigger prize. At the end of the event, you can swap factions to complete the other side's objectives as well as a Double Agent, or remain loyal and progress through a Prestige Pass for loot boxes.

Of course, the big highlight is the fact that Overwatch has dropped five new heroes, expanding its roster to 50 playable characters. These include Domina, a ranged poke tank with beam weaponry, a shield with individual segments, and knockback to keep foes away; Emre, a former Overwatch soldier with a burst-fire rifle and bouncy grenades; Mizuki, a Japanese support hero with a healing aura, ranged blades, and a kasa hat that bounces between allies and heals them when thrown; Anran, Wuyang's sister and a damage character that hurls fire and can even revive herself phoenix-style if killed in her ult; and Jetpack Cat (yes, Jetpack Cat), a friendly feline with the ability to tether allies to fly them around (or enemies, with its ult).

Additionally, five more heroes are coming later in 2026, with Blizzard committing to releasing one new character with the launch of each new season. It's unclear if that cadence will continue in 2027 and beyond, but at least for the rest of this year, that's the plan.

Some other noteworthy changes and additions to Overwatch now live with this revamp include sub-roles for heroes and sub-role specific passives, an overhauled UI, Post-Match Accolades (an evolution of the game's original voting cards), new "Praise" voice lines for complimenting teammates, Vendetta's arrival in the MOBA-style Stadium mode, and a set of Overwatch x Hello Kitty & Friends collab skins, along with plenty of other cosmetics. Each season's Battle Pass will now feature two Mythic skins, as well.

All in all, this is a colossal update for Overwatch, and represents the biggest shot in the arm it's gotten since the game became Overwatch 2 in late 2022. The "sequel" was infamously poorly received due to the lack of planned PvE story content that was later canceled and a transition to a free-to-play, microtransaction shop-driven model that was decidedly less player-friendly than the original loot box system.

The move to 5v5 and the removal of one tank from each team was controversial as well (in the end, I do believe it was the right call), as many felt Overwatch was at its best played in its original 6v6 format. Blizzard did go on to offer permanent 6v6 modes, though.

The hero shooter has been struggling for years in Overwatch 2's fallout (competition from Marvel Rivals hasn't helped), but by shedding the "2," introducing a new live-service structure, and ramping up content additions significantly, Blizzard is fighting to bring it back into mainstream popularity — and so far, it's kind of working. Even before the Reign of Talon, Overwatch has surged on Steam, surpassing Call of Duty and Battlefield 6's concurrent player counts, and it's rising on Xbox's most-played list too.

Personally, I'm not coming back, as I've gotten my fill of Overwatch over the years and have moved on from the FPS entirely. If you feel differently, though, there are certainly plenty of reasons to come back right now. Give it a shot if you're interested.

What do you think about this new era of Overwatch, and everything added in its new Season 1? Are you excited to jump in, or are you not that interested? Let me know in the comments.

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Overwatch 2 is currently going through a bit of a renaissance after dropping the "2" and returning to simply Overwatch. It's still a team-based shooter built around distinct heroes with defined roles, with success coming from balancing those roles, coordinating as a team, and completing objectives to secure the win.

After surpassing Call of Duty and Battlefield 6 on Steam in player count, Overwatch seems to be gaining momentum. It appears to be recommitting to what players originally loved about the franchise.

Amid that resurgence, the voice actor for newly announced hero Anran, Fareeha Anderson, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to publicly campaign for changes to the character's design.

It follows fan criticism that Anran's in-game appearance looks almost identical to other female heroes, rather than standing out as her own distinct character.

Blizzard commits to Anran redesign after voice actor criticism

Amid Overwatch 2’s shift back to Overwatch, the game is also introducing five new characters overall, including a cat with a jet pack, though that isn't necessarily important to this story — I just wanted to mention it because it’s cool as hell.

Instead, the focus is on Anran, a new hero described by the game’s director as a tough older sister. The character has faced criticism, including from her own voice actor, who took to X to publicly campaign for changes to her appearance.

Fareeha (Anran’s voice actor) stated:

As is often the case on X, some fans were supportive, while others were less so. As someone who personally has no stake in Overwatch, I do not think it ultimately matters whether the design changes.

Blizzard, however, has agreed to revisit the character’s appearance and committed to adjustments that better align with its original vision. Game director Aaron Keller stated, "I wanted to take a moment to address one thing in particular. The team is currently discussing what it would take to make Anran look and feel like the fierce older sister that we all envision her to be."

He also went on to state it was something they wanted to share last week, but first wanted to make sure of the changes they wanted to make before making a public announcement.

It's also worth mentioning that Xbox Game Pass subscribers do get six hero skins, 30 Mythic Prisms, access to select shop cosmetics, and a 10 percent XP boost, so if you're a fan of Overwatch, it could be worth subscribing, at least to claim the benefits.

What do you think about Blizzard revisiting Anran’s design? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Blizzard Entertainment's long-running, free-to-play PvP hero shooter Overwatch 2 has had a rough few years since it relaunched across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation in late 2022, but that may change with the gigantic overhaul the studio just announced for the once globally dominant FPS.

In the developer's new Overwatch Spotlight showcase (you can watch the full presentation here or with the embed below), Blizzard announced that it's officially dropping the 2 from Overwatch 2, meaning it will once again be called Overwatch. Accompanying that change is the introduction of major annual story arcs that drive the universe forward, with numbered seasons resetting every year; essentially, think of every year as a story, and its seasons as its chapters.

2026's arc is the Reign of Talon — a narrative that's kicked off with Vendetta overthrowing Doomfist to become the Talon faction's leader — and its Season 1, named Conquest, is scheduled to go live next week on February 10. When it does, it's introducing five (yes, five) new heroes to the game, raising its roster to 50 playable characters.

These heroes include Domina, a specialized "poke" tank that fights from afar with a long-range beam and creates protective barriers that have individually destroyable segments; Emre, a "fast-paced run and gun" hero with a burst-fire rifle and bouncy grenades; Mizuki, an aggressive support with a healing aura fueled by damage and a kasa hat that can be thrown at allies to heal them; Anran, a phoenix-themed character that wields deadly, fiery fans; and Jetpack Cat. Yes, the meme is now reality, with the flying feline able to lift allies into the air for creative playmaking and carry enemies into hazards with its ult.

Notably, Anran is getting a hero trial ahead of Season 1's launch that runs from February 5 until the season drops, giving players the opportunity to enjoy her early. Blizzard also says that five more heroes are coming out in 2026's five future seasons, with one releasing as each one begins.

When Season 1 launches, Blizzard is also introducing new subroles that each damage, tank, and support character will fall into, with each one getting distinct subrole passives that provide some intrinsic benefits. The studio is adjusting and reworking several heroes over the course of 2026, too.

Additionally, Season 1 is bringing the first of Overwatch's new meta events where players have to pick allegiance to Overwatch or Talon and complete missions over the course of several weeks to earn rewards. Whichever faction completes more missions in total will earn some additional goodies.

Skins are a massive part of the Overwatch experience, and plenty of those are coming too. A wild Overwatch x Hello Kitty collab is launching alongside Season 1 and bringing themed skins to D.Va, Widowmaker, Juno, Mercy, Kiriko, and Lucio, and faction-themed skins are coming as well, along with new Mythic-tier cosmetics. Skins from the last six seasons that were previously microtransaction shop exclusives are being added to loot boxes, also.

Some other noteworthy additions on the way include two new maps in Season 1, a completely revamped UI, a reset for competitive play, the return of end-of-match player commendations, and engine upgrades that improve the visuals. Overwatch is also coming to Switch 2 at the start of Season 2.

Ultimately, Blizzard is kicking off an entirely new era for Overwatch after controversially reworking it into Overwatch 2 and scrapping its long-awaited PvE content. Only time will tell if the game's new structure and live-service cadence will bring players back, but one thing is clear: the studio is all-in on Overwatch moving forward.

How do you feel about Blizzard's new direction for Overwatch? Are you a fan of how they're reshaping its live-service structure? Let me know how you're feeling in the comments.

Diablo 4 Season 11 is in the strongest state the game has ever been — I know, guys, we’ve been here before, but this is genuinely the best version of the game Blizzard has given us to date — but, instead of being satisfied with the status quo, I find myself nervous about what’s coming in 2026. Will the upcoming expansion upset the balance again?

Season 11 has brought back a massive wave of players and, more importantly, is actually keeping them there. With the addition of the Paladin and a newfound variety in endgame activities (new bosses, the upcoming Tower, to name a few), Diablo 4 has seemingly found its footing.

After over two years of reworks and course corrections, and an identity crisis over whether it wanted to be Diablo 2 or Diablo 3, the game has landed in a place where it feels like it has its own identity. Systems reinforce one another, progression feels satisfying, and loot is actually exciting again. I’m not just saying this because I had two Mythics drop for me as early as Torment 2 this season, honest. Blizzard is finally conveying what kind of ARPG Diablo 4 wants to be.

Naturally, this makes me wary of the looming Lord of Hatred expansion, set for April 28, 2026. With another massive shake-up on the horizon, could we go from “D4 is good” back to — well, you know.

Everything I’ve loved about Season 11

The Paladin is the obvious headline, and it’s fun as hell because it is overtuned as hell. The "Castle" paragon node scaling off armor is clearly out of whack and will likely be nerfed to oblivion in future patches, but it’s making the class the undisputed top of the current meta.

Regardless, this isn't a Spiritborn-at-launch situation where bugs shattered the game and made it positively unfun for other classes. The Paladin’s power feels more intentional rather than accidental. A few numerical tweaks could bring it in line without gutting its identity entirely next season.

Beyond the obvious power fantasy, the Paladin has brought back the lapsed players. Those who mentally wrote the game off months ago. It finally delivers the sword-and-board archetype fans have begged for since the beginning. Between its strong visual identity and flexible buildcraft (there are many viable builds), it doesn't force you into a single playstyle. I’ve found myself really enjoying the class despite initial expectations.

I didn’t care for the Paladin in Diablo 2, and I can count on one hand how many times I picked up Crusader in Diablo 3, but I love the Diablo 4 Paladin. Spiritborn felt like a fun novelty I wouldn’t likely return to. But right now, I’m making Hammer Tornados my personality, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon.

Zooming out, the Paladin is just one piece of a much more satisfying puzzle. Crafting is finally fun. ‘Sanctification’ turned what could have been another forgettable seasonal gimmick into a compelling endgame thrill loop that I hope becomes a permanent fixture. Now that RNG has been removed from Tempering (along with the frustration), a perfect Sanctification is the new ultimate goal.

The journey of an item from its drop to tweaking its stats, tempering, socketing, and such before that final Sanctification stamp makes crafting our items more interactive. Any frustration I’ve felt during the process has been directed at my own stupidity. Sanctifying something before I’d finished tinkering with it. "I haven’t put a socket on my shield yet… I forgot to temper this… d’oh!"

But I love the finality of it. You aren’t just incrementally upgrading stats anymore. Sanctification is rolling for a miracle that might warrant a screenshot. Seeing people roll Shakos onto Shakos (even if it's only the 0.01%) adds a level of "what if" excitement that the game needed. I may never see that luck myself, but I love knowing it’s possible.

Similarly, Divine Gifts has fixed a long-standing issue: funneling players into a single correct activity. Instead of slamming the same dungeon endlessly, you’re rewarded for engaging with everything in the game. Pits, lair bosses, Helltides, and Undercity runs all feel meaningful.

Even when the loot you want doesn't drop, you’re still progressing your Divine Gifts. Though my one criticism is that they progress insanely slowly, I guess that keeps us playing longer. Blizzard even snuck in a secret Uber-style mega fight without telling us. Giving the community something to discover on their own.

The secret Uber fight is reminiscent of the hunt for the Cow Level and is exactly what the game needed. There was no dev blog explaining it into the ground; players had to stumble onto rare materials and piece together the ritual themselves. I’m currently sitting on one of the four materials needed, and that chase is what keeps me playing.

It’s genuinely aspirational content that doesn’t feel like a slog. It proves that Diablo works best when it realizes that not everything needs to be accessible to everyone immediately.

Vessel of Hatred played it a little too safe

This brings us back to my concern regarding expansions. Vessel of Hatred played it a little too safe. It barely moved the needle, really. Runes and Mercenaries are fine, but they don't reshape the endgame. You can engage with them, or as I often do until a Season Journey chapter forces my hand — forget they even exist.

In hindsight, that restraint was likely intentional. Narratively, Blizzard wanted to drag out Mephisto’s arc, which led to a lackluster finale in Vessel, but should lead to a much more impactful confrontation in Lord of Hatred this coming April. Historically, Diablo expansions like Lord of Destruction or Reaper of Souls have radically redefined the game.

We didn't get that wild shake-up with Vessel of Hatred because Blizzard was still busy rebuilding trust and stabilizing core systems. Lord of Hatred, however, isn't shaping up to be so conservative. And when the game is finally this good, a wild shake-up is pretty damn frightening! Lord of Hatred will change everything, for better or worse.

Based on what we already know, Lord of Hatred isn’t just tacking on a new map and calling it a day. We’re looking at a total reconstruction of the skill trees for all classes and major overhauls to the endgame. We’re getting War Plans, Echoing Hatred gauntlets, and finally loot filters (YAY!).

The Horadric Cube is returning as a core crafting pillar, the level cap is rising again, and we’re getting a second new class. Even the underlying philosophy behind progression appears to be shifting. That’s exciting for sure, but I’m not counting my chickens just yet.

Diablo 4 finally feels cohesive right now. Systems complement each other rather than compete for our attention. Seasonal mechanics enhance the base game instead of distracting from it — so much so that we want to keep Sanctifying forever (Blizz, if you’re reading this, please please please keep Sanctification).

The loot chase is compelling without being an exhausting chore, and progression finally respects the player's time (unless you are trying to reach paragon 300, which I've given up on for now). When a game finally reaches this kind of equilibrium, sweeping changes become a massive gamble.

Lord of Hatred could elevate Diablo 4 even further, and I sincerely hope it does, but it could also shatter the current loop. There’s a real risk of introducing too many overlapping systems that lead to choice paralysis or overcorrecting too far toward complexity.

Where exactly will the Horadric Cube fit into the current meta? How will the new set bonuses affect the current gear chase? I’m worried because Season 11 has finally nailed these clean, satisfying gameplay loops, and it’s anyone’s guess how all these new moving parts will fit together.

Excited? Absolutely — Confident? Not quite.

None of this is to say I’m dreading Lord of Hatred. I’m just more cautiously optimistic compared to the complete hype train I was on prior to Vessel of Hatred’s launch.

Diablo 4 has earned some real goodwill back with Season 11, and I don’t want to see that go to waste in 2026. I am loving most of all that Blizzard is trusting the community to discover content organically without spoon-feeding us every secret in a patch note.

I want them to take this momentum and run with it. But Lord of Hatred has a massive mountain to climb. It will be judged against Season 11, the best version of the game we’ve ever had. We are past the point of needing to tear Diablo 4 down just to rebuild it again. We’ve had Loot Reborn, then Crafting Reborn.

Whatever comes next needs to expand on this without being a total wrecking ball. If Blizzard gets this right, Lord of Hatred could cement Diablo 4’s identity for years, serving as its Reaper of Souls style renaissance.

What about you? How are you finding Season 11 so far? Are you a lapsed player who came back for the Paladin, or have you been grinding since launch? And looking ahead to April, are you hyped for the Skill Tree reworks and the return of the Cube, or are you worried the game is going to get too complex?

Drop a comment below. I’d love to hear if I'm the only one feeling this nervous excitement.

Blizzard Entertainment president Johanna Faries wants the game developer to put out a couple of big launches every year, while focusing on its existing roster of franchises.

That's according to an interview with Bloomberg, where Faries discussed the studio's work under Xbox and how planning is happening for the next few years. Faries stepped into her role in January 2024, joining from the Activision side of Activision Blizzard King, where she formerly managed the Call of Duty franchise.

Faries notes that she is thinking in "five-year terms," and that she wants Blizzard to continue expanding its lineup of games across established worlds.

"We have iconic IP and in many ways it still has a lot of room to scale, so let’s focus in on the cards we have to play. It doesn’t mean we won’t go into new places and territories, but for right now, let’s home in on all the iconic stature that we have in the tank for Blizzard," she says. "That’s number one."

Faries also wants the teams to have a "reliable cadences of launches" that can see Blizzard putting out a big launch or two every year.

"Our fans are hungry. They want to get involved. They want to feel reliability as well. They want us have a sense of what’s right around the corner. Let’s look at it as a portfolio, and let’s make sure that every — let’s say calendar year — there are at least one to two really big things that Blizzard is pumping out."

When asked about the 30% margin that is reportedly being imposed on Xbox by Microsoft, Faries doesn't give specific details, but notes that while Blizzard is being held to high standards, she considers it a credit to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and president of game content and studios Matt Booty.

"They want to see Blizzard thrive, and I think they trust in the talent that we have here to be able to write our future," she says. "I think we have our house very in order. I feel very confident about what’s coming up."

Blizzard already has two big launches set for the first half of 2026

Looking ahead, Blizzard already seems set with two big launches coming fairly early next year. World of Warcraft: Midnight is set to arrive on March 2, 2026.

Meanwhile, Diablo 4 is getting its second expansion with the launch of Lord of Hatred on April 28, 2026, bringing new story and two new classes, including the Paladin, which is available now for anyone that preorders the expansion.

I'm curious what the teams have further down the line, as it seems unlikely that new expansions will be ready for Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft in 2027. Might we see Blizzard launch some entirely new games?

Do you think Blizzard can actually hit that pace without sacrificing quality, or is this just corporate optimism talking? Drop your thoughts below and hit our poll — what do you want Blizzard’s new release era to look like?

During The Game Awards 2025, Blizzard Entertainment dropped a reveal trailer for Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, the next big DLC expansion of Diablo IV that will bring back the classic Paladin class (which has been missing in action since Diablo 2), a new mystery Class, gameplay balance changes, the return of the Horadric Cube, the culmination of the "Age of Hatred Saga", and more.

To celebrate the occasion, Blizzard has announced a line-up of Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred merchandise at its Blizzard Gear Store, including apparel, accessories, and figures of the expansion's central villain, Mephisto.

As a bonus, buying these collectibles in the Blizzard Gear Store will net you a weapon code for the Diablo Death's Head Cudgel to use in Diablo IV.

Here is a selection of the new collectibles Blizzard is offering for Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred.

Prepare to face the Lord of Hatred, Mephisto

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred is the 2nd major expansion of Diablo IV, following the Vessel of Hatred Expansion (which is included with all editions of Lord of Hatred). It is set in a new region called Skovos, and it will take players on a dark journey to save Sanctuary from one of Diablo's most iconic villains, Mephisto.

The Expansion will feature two character classes, a wealthof new enemies and bosses to slay, overhauled endgame content, a dramatic storyline, an increased level cap, fishing, and much more.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred is set to release on April 28, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam and Battle.net. Do note that you will need to buy the base game of Diablo IV first in order to play the Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred Expansion.

Pre-purchasing Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred will net players early access to the Paladin Class, which is available right now with Diablo IV's 11th Season, which went live yesterday, December 11, 2025, at 8:30 p.m. PT.

Standard, Deluxe, or Ultimate Editions of Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred are available to purchase, with varying levels of cosmetic DLC content in each edition.

As an added bonus, purchasing any version of Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred will net you bonus decor items you can use for World of Warcraft's Player Housing feature.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, but Blizzard Entertainment's Gear Store discount sale is still live to provide its fans more chances to grab cool video-game collectibles like clothing, jewellery, figures, and more based on their favorite franchises.

So we have rounded up the coolest, cutest, and funniest merchandise currently on sale from Blizzard's Gear Store to provide your fellow World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, and Overwatch fans with the perfect Christmas gifts.

What's more is that buying these items from the Blizzard Gear Store will grant you access to download exclusive in-game items for World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, and Overwatch, and show them off to your friends.

World of Warcraft

Diablo IV

Overwatch

FAQ / Buying Advice

If you love all the cool World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, and Overwatch 2 we've highlighted here, head on over to the Blizzard Gear store to see what else they have to offer for their Black Friday sale.

Here are some additional details you may find useful for Blizzard Entertainment's Collectible sale.

More Cyber Monday 2025 - quick links

• All our TOP recommended Cyber Monday deals: Just the best
• Mini PC deals: up to 47% off tiny PCs
• GPU deals: early price drops on NVIDIA RTX before they go up
• Microsoft Surface deals: save up to $500 on premium PCs
• Xbox accessories: best deals on gadgets for your Xbox Series X|S and PC
• Gaming laptop deals: the best laptops for the best price
• Xbox controllers: our top picks for best controller deals
• ANC headphones: great Cyber Monday deals on the best ANC headphones
  
  Even more Cyber Monday deals:
• Dell deals: 13 deals from Dell.com that you shouldn't miss
• Best Buy: 34 hottest discounts on laptops, monitors, gaming, and more
• Walmart: 7 top laptop deals you shouldn't miss
• Samsung monitors: the best Samsung display deals we've found
• Retro gaming: handhelds, arcade machines, old school consoles, and more
• Gamer merch: Blizzard’s Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo IV collectibles
• Game keys: 10 PC game codes are even cheaper at Loaded (formerly CDKeys)
• Accessories: Even more PC accessories starting at $17

The Overwatch 2 development team at Blizzard Entertainment has unionized, as shared by the Communication Workers of America (CWA) on Friday.

This "wall-to-wall" union includes almost 200 developers, including artists, engineers, and other non-management roles. It's also the second union formed at Blizzard Entertainment, with the World of Warcraft team unionizing back in July 2024.

“Game developers behind Activision Blizzard’s hit franchise Overwatch have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), becoming the latest group of video game workers at Microsoft-owned studios to form a wall-to-wall union,” the CWA announced in a press release.

Outside of Blizzard Entertainment, several other unions have formed across game development studios under Microsoft, including at Activision User Research and ZeniMax Online Studios.

It also comes as the CWA has formed an industry-wide union for game developers to join, including any workers that were recently laid off.

Over 20,000 workers in the gaming industry were laid off in 2024, including over 2,000 at Microsoft, with many being laid off from Activision Blizzard King.

According to some workers speaking with Kotaku, the primary motivation was protection, with a serious effort for unionization starting after seeing coworkers laid off from Blizzard Entertainment. Other issues include solving pay disparity and lifting work from home restrictions.

In April, ZeniMax quality assurance workers voted to authorize a strike if necessary, with the union pushing for better pay and the right to work from home.

Overwatch 2 is on a hot streak for Season 16, adding a new Stadium game mode, a hero damage hero called Freja, and a collab with the classic mecha anime Gundam Wing.

However, Blizzard has decided to make dreams come true for Overwatch and fighting game fans alike as it has announced that Overwatch 2's next collab will be Street Fighter 6, the latest entry in Capcom's Street Fighter franchise.

According to the announcement trailer, the collab event will begin on May 20, 2025. The event will include Street Fighter-themed costumes for several Overwatch 2 heroes and emotes inspired by special moves characters use in Street Fighter.

The characters to receive Street Fighter costumes in the Street Fighter 6 collab event, as confirmed in the trailer so far, include:

• Juno as Chun-Li
• Hanzo as Ryu
• Widowmaker as Cammy
• Kiriko as Juri
• Soldier 76 as Guile
• Zenyatta as Dhalsim
• Winston as Blanka
• Sigma as M. Bison

The Overwatch x Street Fighter dream crossover has finally come true

Back when I played the original Overwatch in the late 2010s, I often thought that Overwatch was the Street Fighter of PvP shooters due to its anime-esque, over-the-top character designs and how the gameplay revolves around using "special moves" to beat your opponents.

I would have never thought in a million years that Overwatch would get an actual crossover event with Street Fighter, but then again, I never expected Diablo 4 to get a crossover with Berserk, so anything's possible these days.

Either way, I'm glad this Collab is happening as both Overwatch and Street Fighter are awesome, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the Street Fighter 6 skins will look in-game as Hanzo's Ryu skin already looks amazing.

On a side note, when the crossover goes live on May 20, 2025, I hope there will be a special arcade mode where we get to beat up cars like in Street Fighter's mini-games that happen in between fights!

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

Blizzard always pushes out the boat for its bizarre Diablo promotions. In the run-up to the launch of Diablo 4, we had KFC collaborations, a painted cathedral ceiling, and suspicious meat milkshakes, with the launch of Vessel of Hatred being celebrated by the gifting of poisonous flowers to your worst enemies.

Not content with letting Mother's Day go by without some dedication to the Mother of Sanctuary, this next event, named "Mothers Judgement" [sic], celebrates all the gaming Moms being driven to Hell and back by their demon spawn, with the gift of candles.

Mother's Judgement from Lilith

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Diablo has teamed up with Cantrip Candles to bring the essence of Sanctuary straight to your senses with Mother's Judgement.

This limited-time collaboration pays homage to Lilith, the Mother of Sanctuary herself, with candles that evoke either her ominous blood petals or her even more... wrathful side.

Basically, you’ll either get a lovely rose-scented candle or one that smells as putrid as my teenage boy's bedroom.

• Mother's Blessing: A heavenly blend of rose, ash and floral notes.
• Mother's Wrath: A triple threat (triune if you will) of wet trash, pungency and putridity.

The twist to the promo is that it's a kind of candle roulette, as you don't know which you'll receive. Your candle fragrance will be determined by Lilith herself (or rather, one of her demon-loving Blizzard representatives).

Diablo fans will have a chance to claim one of 666 limited-edition candles by opting into the promotion starting May 8, 2025.

Once you’ve signed up, fate (not how much you've spent on the Diablo 4 battle pass) will decide whether you receive a blessing or a curse.

Deliveries will roll out through the following week, bringing a bit of Sanctuary right to your doorstep. Who doesn't want the smell of goatmen-riddled countryside in their home?

If you’re not among the lucky 666 to receive a candle, there’s still something for you: a digital Mother’s Judgement card, so you can feel like a part of the festivities.

For your chance to get one of these candles, whether it be the delicious or the diabolical for your Mother, head over to the website Blizzard has set up for the promotion at MothersJudgement.com

Diablo 4 Season 8 is here, and reactions have been a bit mixed. Players seem to be enjoying the new lair bosses, but the new reliquary battle pass, approach to seasonal rewards, and overall structure of seasons seem to be under intense scrutiny.

Diablo 4 has also seen increased competition from competing ARPGs like Last Epoch and Path of Exile 2, leaving Blizzard with strategic decisions to make over whether to emulate what's popular in other games, or try out a different direction.

Before Season 8 dropped, I caught up with Blizzard's Deric Nunez and Colin Finer to learn about how Diablo 4's seasonal model has evolved, and the philosophies that will take Blizzard towards Diablo 4's next big expansion.

On Season 8, lair bosses, and the seasonal model

Season 8's big bad is Belial, returning from Diablo 3. The Lord of Lies was a major enemy in the previous title, and is a protégé of Diablo 4's primary evil, Mephisto. His return marks an escalation of the calamity Mephisto is unleashing, after re-emerging into Sanctuary during the events of Vessel of Hatred.

"So, we see this as the continuation of the Age of Hatred, that accelerated at the end of the events of Vessel of Hatred," Lead Seasons Designer Deric Nunez explains, "Mephisto is walking Sanctuary in human form. He created the perfect distraction for Belial, who has been waiting in the shadows."

Belial emerges as part of open world activities, but also as a major new lair boss as part of a revamped boss ladder. I asked Blizzard how the approach to lair bosses has evolved since their introduction in the base game.

"We see Season 8 as an opportunity to put focus and refine the foundation of major end game features," says Nunez. "The Lair Boss system is getting a pretty massive overhaul, not just the new bosses like Belial, the Harbinger of Hatred, or Urivar, but the general quality of life improvements to the feature as a whole. We wanted to set it up to sit more confidently in the wider pantheon of other end game activities, owing to the pivot on materials. We want to boost the frequency that players are engaging with bosses."

Some players have complained that Diablo 4's season journey and boss battles are too easy, while others have complained that obtaining rewards like the seasonal pet have become too grindy. I asked how Blizzard maintains a balance between difficulty and accessibility, given that games like Path of Exile 2 have begun exploring boosting difficulty to excite players.

"We're trying to return to the heart of the Diablo experience, where you level up to fight this big bad, and get all the rewards, to then fight bigger bads. When we first introduced lair bosses, there was a journey to climb up the ladder fighting harder and harder bosses," says Colin Finer, Lead Systems Designer. "In a lot of ways, we feel we've lost that by Season 7. Players have gotten stronger, there's been some power creep, and economic creep on the boss materials side. Season 8 aims to bring the lair bosses back into focus. By eliminating the economic costs, we can raise the difficulty a bit, you can test yourself whenever you want."

"Hopefully we can take it back to that feeling you got from Season 2, where maybe you can get a cheeky kill early in your Torment difficulty journey. We're okay with people being able to one shot bosses eventually, as long as the journey to get there is satisfying. We think of Diablo as a power fantasy game, that's why we have the ultimate form of power fantasies in Season 8 — taking powers directly from bosses, and becoming 'the boss,' right? You can ascend to becoming a God. What we don't like is that, if you're entering a boss battle like Duriel at the start of Torment, and you slap him easily, and you get his loot practically for free — that's what we don't want."

Colin Finer and Deric Nunez acknowledge the challenge of balancing risk and reward, and finding that specific sweet spot. The team also wants to explore ways to make obsolete gear useful, either via resources or additional stat rolls.

"Ultimately, we want Diablo to feel like it's a rewarding experience. We want everyone to hop in and feel rewarded. If everything dies in one second, then it doesn't feel like you've earned the reward. We also don't want it to be so difficult that it feels like a slog. It's a difficult line for us to walk to hit that sweet spot where it's just challenging enough to feel like the rewards are sweet, but not so challenging where the rewards become an afterthought."

"We want to streamline the experience in Diablo 4 to make it clearer when items are upgrades. We don't want you to have to spend tons of mental energy sifting through loot to try and figure out what is or isn't good for you. So, we do phase out certain rarities, because we think it's part of the progression journey. You become so powerful that certain loot just becomes beneath you, right?"

"One thing we do miss the mark on is, what happens to those rarities when they do get phased out? In the future, we do want items that, once they become useless to you, they automatically turn into salvage that you can then pour into more powerful loot, or potentially more pulls on stat rolls."

On meta progression, seasonal rewards, and the future

One thing many Diablo content creators are calling for is better rewards for Diablo 4, either via account-wide season-over-season meta progression, or via things like the Battle Pass. The new reliquary system was designed to give players more control over what rewards they pursue, but others have noted that it seems to have fewer items than the previous linear battle pass track. I asked the team how their philosophy is evolving with regard to the game's battle pass model, as well as get hints about the future of more permanent progression systems.

"We are open to the idea of having more meta progression to give more meaning to playing a season," Finer explains. "We made a change in Vessel of Hatred to allow all Paragon levels, for example, to carry over into Eternal. You could argue that's a sort of meta progression tracker, right?

"On the seasonal model, I do think it's actually helpful to casual players who haven't played in a while, because it lets everyone start fresh. You don't need to remember anything about your previous character, sift through gear, and so on."

One thing that concerns me about Diablo 4's direction is the volume of rewards-as-microtransactions, rather than obtained via play. Blizzard focused on making the higher ranks of Torment more tough, and put some of the most compelling rewards up in there, until fan feedback led them to change tac. The team emphasized that player feedback shapes their decisions, although there are limits.

"We have added a lot of great stuff to the season journeys. Last season we had our first flying pet, Dorian, as part of the season journey. We think it's cool to have aspirational rewards in the game, like Dorian, and this season's is Iris the cat. The aspirational stuff is tricky — we know it's important to have things to aspire to, but we also want it to be a rewarding experience, regardless of how hard you play. It's tricky to balance. Some feel that there's a disservice if it's not hard enough, but it then makes it inaccessible for a lot of players. We look to fan feedback to find out where sentiment is landing on things like that. We're happy to revisit things, like moving Iris from Chapter VII of the season journey to Chapter VI."

As a World of Warcraft player, I had to ask about Vessel of Hatred's new raid layer, and whether it could see improvements, with a reminder about Diablo 4's enigmatic roadmap.

"We're happy that we tried something new for Vessel of Hatred, we haven't seen it before in the mainline series. We're still parsing player feedback to help validate our investments in raids and other types of content. In our roadmap, we have nightmare dungeon improvements, infernal horde improvements — focusing on the core systems players love and enjoy."

I tried to tease some hints about a Paladin class or new features coming to the expansion for Diablo 4 next year, but the Blizzard team were proving tough to crack on that one. Although, they acknowledged how much potential still exists in Diablo 4, especially as competition from other ARPGs gradually ramps up.

"I do agree that Diablo 4 still has a lot of untapped potential. I think Season 8 is jammed with cool stuff, with new lair bosses, new move sets for lair bosses, and quality of life improvements. We're very excited for the next expansion in 2026. I think players are going to love it. I do agree that there's so much more we can offer players. There's more to come."

A huge thanks to Colin Finer and Deric Nunez for fielding our questions — I'll see you guys in Sanctuary!

Diablo 4 Season 8, Belial's Return just kicked off a couple of hours ago, and Diablo fans are already raging. Though they may have pretty good reason for it in this regard.

Right now we're seeing reports of the new Battle Pass system, Reliquaries, causing an error which deducts the players Platinum from the balance but doesn't reward you with the pass. So buyer beware, do not grab it until a fix arrives!

Diablo 4 Reliquary is bugged

Blizzard has updated the official Diablo 4 forums to say that they are investigating the issue.

"Hey folks thanks a ton for sharing. We’re investigating this issue with Reliquaries not showing/functioning properly at this time. Apologies for the inconvenience, we’ll keep you all informed asap on any updates."

One user on Reddit says they bought the Deluxe Battle Pass and nothing unlocked for them despite the game telling them the pass is active, all Reliquaries remain locked. Others have reported having 1000 Platinum deducted from their balance but no cosmetics unlocking on the pass.

Others are reporting other hiccups with previously purchased cosmetics from previous passes are missing in their character wardrobes.

Can't redeem pass from a previous season on the Reliquary in Diablo 4?

The transition from the traditional Battle Pass system to the new Reliquaries in Diablo 4 has introduced another complication. Previously, players who purchased a Battle Pass, such as those with the Ultimate version of Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, could choose to delay redeeming it for a future season. For instance, if someone opted not to redeem their Battle Pass in Season 6, it would remain on their account, ready to be activated in a later season.

However, with the introduction of the Reliquaries system, many players are now reporting that they can no longer redeem their unused Battle Passes from previous seasons. This change has understandably caused some outrage.

Here’s hoping Blizzard fixes this issue quickly, as it may just be another hiccup in the madness that comes with a new season launch.

We’ll continue monitoring the situation for updates.