The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the video game industry's live events. Blizzard, which hosts a semi-annual live BlizzCon convention, is one company that has struggled to make the best out of a bad situation. BlizzCon 2020 was canceled, with a digital BlizzConline alternative event held in early 2021 instead. Now Blizzard is faced with the same situation in 2021, and has ultimately come to the same conclusion as BlizzCon 2021 is canceled, with something new planned instead.
No one should be surprised by the reasons for major in-person events being canceled. The pandemic continues worldwide even as some regions curtail its strength. Blizzard attributes these ongoing efforts to mitigate the pandemic's impact as the main reason for BlizzCon 2021's cancellation. Planning such a major event involves so many people across the world that the logistics of putting together such a convention aren't reasonable. The state of the world in late 2021 is too unpredictable, according to the developer.
That said, Blizzard also takes the time to explain how much having in-person interaction with fans is important to it, and how it understands fans interacting with other fans is important to them, too. As such, Blizzard does plan to implement some sort of in-person element into its next event, tentatively planned to occur in early 2022. Instead of one big in-person event, Blizzard is instead planning "smaller in-person gatherings."
Blizzard's full plan, as it stands, is to hold a hybrid event in early 2022. However, it's not described as a second BlizzConline. It's said to combine an online presentation akin to BlizzConline with these odd in-person gatherings. To find out exactly what Blizzard means, fans will have to wait until later. Blizzard says that it'll only share more as its plans come together. Unfortunately, that means fans are left with an ambiguous description of Blizzard's plans for the time being.
What people can trust in is that there will be no big BlizzCon event in 2021. That means there's no need to try to book travel or accommodations for a big convention, as Blizzard's biggest fans would otherwise be doing right now.
Part of why Blizzard may not be hosting a BlizzCon in 2021 is that it simply won't be ready to share its games yet, regardless of the pandemic. Perhaps Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, among Blizzard's other games, will be in a better state for showcasing in early 2022. For many that will be a long time to wait, regardless of Blizzard's scheduling.