BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony: Diablo V, a New StarCraft Shooter, and World of Warcraft: Forever Headline a Massive Reveal Lineup

September 13, 2026 Noah

BlizzCon 2026 kicked off its Opening Ceremony on September 12 with the biggest slate of reveals the show has had in years, and Blizzard did not save much for later in the weekend. Inside a jam-packed 75 minutes at the Anaheim Convention Center, the studio confirmed a new mainline Diablo game, an entirely new kind of StarCraft project, and a permanent new way to play the original World of Warcraft. Here is everything Blizzard announced.

Diablo V Confirms Sanctuary Has Already Fallen

To mark the Diablo franchise’s 30th anniversary, Blizzard confirmed Diablo V with a cinematic teaser and a release window of Spring 2029. Rather than building up to another confrontation with the Lord of Terror, the new game starts from defeat: Diablo has already won, and Sanctuary has fallen. Blizzard framed the premise with a single line: “What must you do when the world has already fallen?”

Beyond the setting and the release window, Blizzard kept details tight, saying more on world-building, class philosophy, and creative direction would come through BlizzCon panels and future updates rather than the Opening Ceremony itself.

Diablo V key art revealed at BlizzCon 2026

Diablo V key art, revealed during BlizzCon 2026’s Opening Ceremony.

StarCraft Returns, but Not as an RTS

The show’s biggest surprise was a new StarCraft project that leaves the real-time strategy genre behind entirely. Blizzard revealed a story-driven, open-world shooter set in the StarCraft universe, led by Dan Hay, the former Ubisoft director known for years of work on the Far Cry series. It is a long way off, with Blizzard targeting a Spring 2030 launch, but it marks the first major new StarCraft game in over a decade.

World of Warcraft: Forever Gives Vanilla Azeroth a Permanent Home

Blizzard also announced World of Warcraft: Forever, a new, permanent way to play the game that sits alongside modern WoW and WoW Classic rather than replacing either. It sends players back to the original continents at a level 60 cap, set chronologically after Warcraft III: Reforged’s new Forsaken Kingdom campaign and before Molten Core. Blizzard confirmed a new playable race called the Skyborne, four new or reworked zones, more than 1,000 new quests, nine dungeons, and two raids. World of Warcraft: Forever launches November 4, 2026, with beta access beginning September 17, 2026.

Retail WoW got its own news too. A mid-cycle update for the current Midnight expansion, Patch 12.2: Eclipse, continues the Xal’atath storyline, while Blizzard confirmed its next full expansion, The Last Titan, will close out the multi-expansion Worldsoul Saga in 2027 with a titan-scale antagonist at its center.

Everything Else Blizzard Announced

The Opening Ceremony also packed in updates across every other Blizzard game, plus a few surprises that had nothing to do with a keyboard or controller:

Warcraft III: Reforged launched a brand new campaign the same day, “Forsaken Kingdom,” retelling the Fall of Lordaeron. It is the first new Warcraft III story content in 23 years, arriving alongside a version 3.0 update with a graphics overhaul and a revamped World Editor.
Diablo IV confirmed its next season is officially called Season of Hell’s Legacy, launching September 15 with the return of Deckard Cain and all three Prime Evils (we covered the season’s earlier PTR details, including its Rebirth character-conversion system, right here). Blizzard also confirmed a javelin-wielding Amazon class for the first half of 2027, and a Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection for Nintendo Switch 2, also arriving September 15.
Overwatch Season 5 introduces a new Support hero called Doctrine, a vampire-inspired character built around bat-themed drones, alongside major reworks for Sombra and Roadhog and a new map, Watchpoint: Grímsvötn. The season wraps up the “Reign of Talon” story arc as part of Overwatch’s 10-year anniversary celebrations, with the next Overwatch Spotlight event set for February 2027.
Hearthstone revealed its next expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, launching October 20 with a new “Assemble” keyword, plus an “Aberrations” minion type hitting Battlegrounds on September 22. A new playable class, Monk, arrives in spring 2027, the first new Hearthstone class in four years.
Heroes of the Storm is adding Xal’atath to its roster, with a PTR test starting September 14 ahead of a full launch on September 28.
Blizzard confirmed a Diablo animated series is officially in development with Netflix, and teased that Overwatch and Warcraft adaptations are also being discussed, though only Diablo’s series is confirmed so far.
On the entertainment side, K-pop group LE SSERAFIM closed out the ceremony with a performance tied to an in-game cosmetic collaboration, J-pop act YOASOBI is set to headline the Overwatch World Cup’s first-ever halftime show, and Blizzard is running a live Overwatch tabletop RPG one-shot called “Questwatch” on the Main Stage on September 13.

It is a lot to process for a single Opening Ceremony, and Blizzard still has a full weekend of developer panels left to fill in the gaps, particularly around Diablo V’s world and class design and further specifics on the new StarCraft shooter. For the full show schedule and how to watch the rest of BlizzCon 2026 for free, check out our BlizzCon 2026 preview.

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Picture Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment