After 2014’s somewhat low-key showing, and falling World of Warcraft subscription numbers, Activision-Blizzard knew they had to come out swinging at Blizzcon 2015 and boy did they ever. 2015’s BlizzCon keynote was all about celebrating the future of Blizzard Entertainment, with looks at Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, the Warcraft Movie, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and hotly anticipated shooter Overwatch all making appearances during the presentation.
Starcraft II got things kicked off with a look at the official launch trailer for Legacy of the Void, and some surprising information. Up until the keynote, everyone had assumed that the third and final expansion in the Starcraft II universe would mark the end of the storyline for Starcraft II. This is apparently not the case, as Blizzard revealed that more episodic style story content would be added over time. They even showcased a bit of the first story expansion that will be centered around Ghost Nova.
The director of the Warcraft movie Duncan Jones also made an appearance to show off the films very first trailer. The trailer made the film look a lot more interesting than the previous accounts and descriptions of the film, and it was a pretty epic thing to watch unfold across our screens. Take a look for yourself below.
Heroes of the Storm is also getting a swath of new content in the form of a new mode called “The Arena” and three new characters including a co-op promotional character called Cho’gall. The new mode is exciting and could be just what Heroes of the Storm needs to reinvigorate the game and the new characters look insane as well.
CCG Hearthstone is getting a slew of new cards and a new adventure wing dubbed “League of Explorers”. No word on whether this is coming to all platforms right away or just to PC, but with the launch so close we wouldn’t be surprised to find it coming to all platforms that are supported by Hearthstone.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that their upcoming First Person Shooter Overwatch took up a lot of time during the keynote, and rightfully so, Overwatch continues to look like Team Fortress 2 on steroids and looks like an incredibly great game. The cinematic trailers released were amazing as well as the announcement that Overwatch would be coming to Xbox One and Playstation 4 as the “Overwatch Origins Edition”. This version of the game will have a bunch of extra goodies thrown in. Also revealed were some new characters for Overwatch; D.Va, Mei, and Genji.
11 year MMO juggernaut World of Warcraft closed out the keynote with the reveal of the opening cinematic for their upcoming expansion, Legion. It was the perfect way to close out a keynote that Blizzard absolutely had to nail, and nail it they did.
What do you think of the announcements Blizzard made? Were they enough to satisfy you or were you hoping for more? Let us know in the comments!