Blizzard will skip this year’s Gamescom in an effort to focus on the development of current and future projects, the company has announced on its website.
Blizzard will not have anything on show to consumers in Europe this year and will instead only have a small store selling Blizzard Gear, similar to previous years.
Blizzard usually takes up a large part of one of the Gamescom halls to show off its massive amount of IPs. The company also usually used its space to showoff upcoming merchandise items as well as give players a chance to test out new maps and modes for its game library.
It is a huge setback for European fans. At Gamescom, Blizzard has held special events and even shown off new short Overwatch videos for attendees and fans online to enjoy live.
Though Blizzard is missing the show this year, the company hasn’t ruled out returning to a future event. Blizzard will still be hosting BlizzCon though in November at the Anaheim Convention Center, where the company is likely to show off a new Overwatch hero, the next expansion set for Hearthstone, and a host of other surprise game announcements.
