Most Blizzard fans will never be able to afford to go to BlizzCon which is held almost every year at the convention center in Anaheim, California. With that in mind, a few years ago Blizzard wisely started offering people a more affordable alternate way to attend via Pay Per View broadcast.
The current price for the BlizzCon 2019 Virtual Ticket is a whopping $49.00 not including state sales tax. What do you get for your hard-earned cash?
You get access to all of the speeches, grand reveals, events and panels, cosplay and some live entertainment at the closing ceremony (replays included) and some in-game digital swag. That’s it.
For a World of Warcraft fan like myself, BlizzCon was always a special opportunity to see MMORPG devs reveal insights about design, art, music and production. I remember those Saturdays when I would wake up and tell my wife, “Sweetheart, I’m going to be in my pajamas all day watching this…” When you love MMOs like WoW, BlizzCon is like the Super Bowl. It’s a time of unashamed celebration of fandom and geekdom.
The problem is that as Blizzard’s stable of video games has grown to include additional titles such as Hearthstone and Overwatch, the percentage of WoW coverage at BlizzCon is dwindling.
While I love WoW (classic at least) and am tangentially interested in the Diablo universe, I have zero interest in Starcraft, Hearthstone and Overwatch. Esports which keeps gobbling up more and more precious convention time, does not interest me in the slightest. Once the pie that is BlizzCon has been digested by Blizzard’s non-MMO content, there’s nothing left that interests WoW fans like myself.
From the point of view of someone that is interested only in WoW Classic, paying $49 makes no sense. If there was someway to let fans purchase a la carte shows, or at least come up with a WoW package with a lower price, or include a free month of WoW with every purchase, then I’d most certainly consider it.
Right now, BlizzCon 2019 virtual ticket seems like a terrible value for what you are getting if you interested in just one of their franchises.
Given that last year’s BlizzCon was a debacle with the Diablo: Immortals mobile reveal and that Blizzard’s reputation has never been worse due to the Hearthstone Hong Kong fiasco, it seems rather tone deaf of Blizzard not to want more people to experience BlizzCon. Lowering the price of the BlizzCon Virtual ticket to something reasonable, say $29-$39 would be a start.
I suppose I’ll watch the opening ceremony which is usually free, then head over to YouTube or BitChute to watch recorded versions of the various panels. What a shame, because I really wanted to purchase the Virtual Ticket for a reasonable price.
–Wolfshead
