BlizzCon 2026
Three Games, Three Timelines

BlizzCon 2026
The Announcements

• Author:

  Watty

• Category:

  General Gaming

• Date:

  Sep 14, 2026

BlizzCon returned on 12 September for the first time since 2023, and Blizzard used it to announce three games on three very different timelines. For a community that mostly plays together, the useful question is not only what was announced but when you can play it, and whether you can play it with friends.

World of Warcraft: Forever, 4 November

The nearest is World of Warcraft: Forever, a new take on the original game that is separate from the WoW Classic that already exists. You head back to the original continents and level to 60, but with revised classes and talent trees, more than 1,000 new quests, new regions, dungeons and raids, and a new playable race, the Skyborne. Blizzard says part of the goal is to "unsolve" a game that players have had mapped out for more than twenty years.

It launches on 4 November, and access is included with your normal WoW subscription or Game Time. Two things are worth knowing before you get excited, though. The beta opens on Thursday 17 September, but only for people who pre-purchase the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection. And the Skyborne race itself comes with the paid upgrade editions rather than the base game.

Diablo 5, 2029

Diablo 5 is aimed at 2029. It goes back to a procedurally generated overworld and dungeons, with your caravan travelling across a continent to cleanse it of Diablo's corruption. The part that matters here is multiplayer, and senior game director Joe Shely was clear about it: "Like Diablo 4, it is a game that you can play solo or multiplayer, however you please, and you should be able to play all of the content with your friends." Blizzard plans to start posting regular development updates next year.

StarCraft, 2030

Revealed at the opening ceremony was a new game simply called StarCraft: an open world, story driven shooter set decades after StarCraft II, led by Dan Hay, best known for Far Cry 3 to 6, and targeting 2030. Anyone hoping for a new RTS will be disappointed, but a StarCraft you play with boots on the ground is a genuinely interesting idea.

Do not expect a live service game. Hay described it as a "box product", built around a character you create and a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. In his words: "what we are building right now is not a seasonal game." Blizzard has not announced any co-op, so for now treat it as a single player story in one of gaming's best loved sci-fi settings.

Why we are flagging it

None of these are games The Exiles are organised around, and we are not announcing anything. But a launch like WoW Forever tends to pull lapsed players back in groups, so if you are tempted, say so in the Discord and see who else is.

Further reading: Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever | PC Gamer: Diablo 5 multiplayer | PC Gamer: StarCraft is not a seasonal game