BlizzCon

Tickets and pricing

General admission (since 2005)

General admission tickets are considered to be the baseline experience for BlizzCon. It grants access to all panels across both days; play new games, patches, and expansions; and order exclusive Blizzard merchandise online before the convention. Since its inception in 2005, the prices have changed drastically as its scope and attendees have grown.

For BlizzCon 2005, tickets were set at US$120.

For BlizzCon 2007 & 2008, the price was decreased by $20 to US$100.

For BlizzCon 2009, the price was increased by $25 to $125.

For BlizzCon 2010, the price was increased by another $25 to $150.

For BlizzCon 2011 & 2013, the price was increased by another $25 to $175.

For BlizzCon 2014–2018, the price was increased by another $24 to $199.

For BlizzCon 2019, the price was increased by $30 to $229.

For BlizzCon 2023, the price was increased by $70 to $299.

For BlizzCon 2026, the price decreased by $10 to $289 and there was early-bird pricing of $249.

Each general admission ticket includes a goody bag with items like beta keys for upcoming Blizzard games, exclusive Blizzard paraphernalia, and in-game prizes. The in-game prizes have ranged from pets, transmog, mounts in World of Warcraft & Heroes of the Storm; exclusive card packs for Hearthstone; heroes for Heroes of the Storm; cosmetic wings & pets for Diablo III; skins for Overwatch; and portraits, unit skins, and console skins for Starcraft: Remastered and Starcraft II.

Benefit Dinner (2009–2019, 2026)

Starting with BlizzCon 2009, the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, sometimes called the VIPs Dinner, was introduced as an additional ticket option. The dinner donates all net proceeds to the Children's Hospital of Orange County. Guests can meet with game developers, artists, executives, and other Blizzard Entertainment employees.

The tickets included the dinner, signed print of Blizzard artwork, and BlizzCon ticket. In later BlizzCons, reserved seating for the opening ceremony and Community Night on the first day of the show were added as additional benefits. These tickets usually had their own sale date separate from the main ticket. The price for these tickets were:

$500 for BlizzCon 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2013

$750 for BlizzCon 2014–2019

$499 for BlizzCon 2026 Charity Night Addon

Portal Pass (2019 - 2023)

Beginning with BlizzCon 2019, the Portal Pass was added as an additional ticket option for $550; it effectively replaced the Benefit Dinner option for BlizzCon 2023. It is considered an upgrade over the General Admission ticket. This price was increased by $229 to $799 with BlizzCon 2023. It granted additional access to:

"Night at the Faire" event in the Darkmoon Faire area the night before BlizzCon starts (BlizzCon 2019 Only)

Access to the convention halls before general admission (BlizzCon 2019 Only)

Private viewing lounge with video feeds of the panels

Rotating set of Blizzard employees and special guests

Early convention entry on both days to the Portal Pass Lounge Only

Preferred lines for registration and security

Preferred parking area

Private concessions (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023)

Gameplay experiences (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023)

Concierge support (Introduced with BlizzCon 2023)

Event cancellations

BlizzCon is typically held every year. However, it has been cancelled six times in 2006, 2012, 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025.

The first cancellation came in 2006 with no reason given at the time.

Cancelled again in 2012, a Blizzard community manager claimed that Blizzard was working on "releasing multiple titles that year and so felt they may not have anything big, new or cool to talk about". World of Warcraft's fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria, and Diablo III both launched in 2012 while StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm launched in March 2013.

The event was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual event called BlizzConline was held in February 2021, in lieu of an in-person event.

BlizzCon 2022 was to be held in a modified format with virtual programming and "smaller, in-person gatherings". It was again cancelled in October 2021 in order to prioritize "supporting our teams and progressing development of our games and experiences", and to provide time to "reinvent" the event to be "safe, welcoming, and inclusive as possible". This cancellation came amid the California state government's employee discrimination lawsuit against parent company Activision Blizzard.

BlizzCon 2024 was cancelled in April 2024, with no reason given.

BlizzCon 2025 was similarly cancelled in March 2025 with no explicit reason, but in the announcement, Blizzard stated its 2026 BlizzCon plans.

BlizzCon events

2000s

Attendees were able to try one of the two new playable races, the Blood Elves, for upcoming expansion based in Outland which was released as World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in 2007. Playable demos of the single and multiplayer modes of the since canceled Starcraft: Ghost were available. A songwriting competition was judged by Jonathan Davis of Korn.

Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, comedian Christian Finnegan, and The Offspring performed at the closing concert.

A pre-release version of StarCraft II was available for play (the game would be released as StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty only in 2010), as single player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss. Much of the game, excluding the Zerg race, was revealed and explained as well as Q&A with attendees. The second expansion to World of Warcraft, titled Wrath of the Lich King, was officially announced and available to play.

Comedian Jay Mohr entertained at the closing ceremony followed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain (who changed their name to reflect the new level cap in The Burning Crusade) alongside Video Games Live performing at the closing concert.

In the opening ceremonies, Blizzard president Michael Morhaime revealed the third playable class for Diablo III, the Wizard, as well as the major announcement that Starcraft II would be separated into three games.

Playable versions of Diablo III, StarCraft II, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King were available to test during the convention. There were also tournaments and competitions for the World of Warcraft trading card game, World of Warcraft miniatures game, StarCraft, StarCraft II, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and World of Warcraft arena. For the first time, the Zerg race was playable in the StarCraft II demos.

BlizzCon 2008 was broadcast live on both days as a pay-per-view event on DirecTV for US viewers only, offering eight hours of content per day in high definition. Blizzard fansite WoW Radio broadcast live audio via SHOUTcast.

For the closing ceremonies on Saturday, comedians Kyle Kinane and Patton Oswalt performed. The closing concert was performed by Video Games Live, playing arrangements from all of the Blizzard games, including music from Wrath of the Lich King.

2010s

The fifth playable Diablo III class was revealed to be the Demon Hunter and the StarCraft II modification called "Blizzard DotA" was presented, which later evolved into Heroes of the Storm. Diablo III, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm were playable.

Similar to 2009, BlizzCon 2010 was available live via an online broadcast on the "BlizzCon Virtual Ticket". The Virtual Ticket provided four live feeds from the convention floor, offering 50+ hours of BlizzCon programming. DirecTV again offered both days of BlizzCon 2010 as a pay-per-view event (US$39.95 for both days) for ten hours per day in both standard and high definition.

Korean player MVP_Genius won the StarCraft II BlizzCon Invitational. The vinyl record Revolution Overdrive: Songs of Liberty was released for the event. The comedy rock duo Tenacious D played the closing concert with Dave Grohl. Recordings of the event were released for free as part of the Live Music Archive.

The opening ceremony showcased a new Diablo III cinematic trailer titled "The Black Soulstone," a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm reveal trailer showed new units and abilities, a "Blizzard DOTA" trailer for a new game made from StarCraft II, and the reveal of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, a new expansion for World of Warcraft. Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria were playable. DirecTV once again offered both days of BlizzCon 2011 as a pay-per-view event.

The GOMTV Global Starcraft II League October final match took place in Anaheim alongside BlizzCon. Moon "MMA" Sung Won beat Jeong "Mvp" Jong Hyeon, 4–1. The closing concert featured a performance from Blizzard's in-house band, The Artist Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains (TAFKL80ETC), who changed their name mid-concert to Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftains (L90ETC). The Foo Fighters headlined the closing concert.

BlizzCon 2013 was held on November 8 and 9 in Anaheim. The tickets were sold in two batches across April 24 and 27, 2013, and both batches quickly sold out. Blizzard also sold special tickets that included access to a Benefit Dinner. Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket for live streaming of all BlizzCon 2013 events.

2020s

In April 2020, Blizzard announced that they were still working on plans for the next BlizzCon, noting that it may occur in some other form or be cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, Blizzard confirmed they will not hold the physical event, but was considering some online replacement which would not likely occur until early 2021.

On September 21, 2020, Blizzard announced that the virtual event BlizzConline would be held from February 19–20, 2021. It featured the unveiling of Diablo II: Resurrected and the remastered version of The Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft Classic, as well as further details on Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal.

In May 2021, Blizzard announced that the in-person BlizzCon event was again cancelled due to COVID-19, as the "ongoing complexities and uncertainties of the pandemic" made it impossible to organize an event at the required scale for its traditional November scheduling. Blizzard stated that there were plans for a "global event" with online components and "smaller in-person gatherings" to be held in early 2022.

On October 26, 2021, amid, but without mentioning, ongoing litigation against the company over its workplace culture and treatment of female employees, Blizzard announced that the previously announced "global event" had been "paused", and that it would "take the time to reimagine what a BlizzCon event of the future could look like."

In May 2023, Blizzard announced that BlizzCon will be held on November 3 and 4 at the Anaheim Convention Center. On June 29, 2023, Blizzard announced several new changes to BlizzCon but did confirm that tickets would be sold once more thru AXS.com in two waves across July 8 and 22. Attendees were restricted to purchasing two tickets per transaction, down from four tickets per transaction in 2019. For the first time in the event's history, tickets for BlizzCon failed to sell out.

Additionally, Blizzard included a Mature warning for BlizzCon content that would not permit children under the age of 7 and required an adult for those aged 7–17 to enter. Blizzard further announced that BlizzCon 2023 would be live streamed for free. However, the Virtual Ticket was still sold by offering in-game items for various Blizzard games. Seating for the opening ceremony was assigned with a lottery due to the smaller capacity of the BlizzCon Arena. In addition, all panels and Community Night events were held BlizzCon Arena using first-come, first-served seating. Events in the BlizzCon Arena were simulcast to screens across BlizzCon. Hall E of the Anaheim Convention Center was not used; the BlizzCon Store, merchandise pick-up, and costume contest typically held there was moved to the bottom half of the North Hall.

Blizzard WorldWide Invitational

Blizzard WorldWide Invitationals were events similar to BlizzCon held outside the United States.