World of Warcraft is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, but it’s just cancelled its biggest party.
Fans of the online game have gathered in Anaheim, California, every year since 2005 for BlizzCon.
The convention was a place to meet fellow fans of the series, dress up in your best cosplay and get a first look at what was coming next in the huge fantasy world of Azeroth.
But game maker Activision Blizzard has announced it’s called off the 2024 edition of the popular event.
It’s assured disappointed fans that the event will return in future, but hasn’t said when, and promised a series of smaller-scale events instead.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, some fans were quick to point the finger at Warcraft’s new owners, Microsoft. The tech giant bought Activision Blizzard last year for $69bn (£56bn) in the biggest acquisition in gaming history.
Among gamers there’s been speculation about what the Xbox owner might do with its newly owned titles, which also include household-name franchises Call of Duty and Candy Crush.
Most of the talk has centred around whether Microsoft would bring some of its new titles to Game Pass – its Netflix-style subscription service seen as an increasingly important part of its gaming business.
The other major development since the buyout was the announcement that Microsoft had laid off 1,900 of its 22,000 workers in its gaming division.
These were reported to have largely affected Activision Blizzard staff, and the developer also cancelled work on a survival game project widely known as Odyssey.
But when BBC Newsbeat spoke to two of World of Warcraft’s most senior bosses earlier this month – and before the BlizzCon announcement – they insisted they weren’t expecting any major changes for the franchise.
Vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale said that “so far” the developer had Microsoft’s “full support to do everything we’ve got to deliver for our audience”.
