BlizzCon 2026: Diablo V, StarCraft shooter, and more news

BlizzCon 2026 is the main event for all fans of Blizzard games. During the event, developers revealed plans for their key franchises. This year's edition showcased the future of familiar series as well as brand-new gaming projects.

Diablo V

The biggest surprise of the event was Diablo V, which Blizzard announced without any prior hints. The story jumps forward a hundred years into a world that has definitively fallen – Diablo has conquered all of Sanctuary and rules from Westmarch. Previous heroes failed, and the last safe havens are gone. You set out with a caravan of survivors across a devastated landscape.

Creators also confirmed the return of the Demon Hunter and the beloved Monk, while the roster of classes is rounded out by a new, heavily armored warrior: the Plague Knight. The game combines randomly generated dungeons with a fully open world, and the item system follows in the footsteps of the second installment – sets and magical runewords are back. Blizzard plans to release the full game in the spring of 2029.

Diablo IV

The new Season of Hell's Legacy kicks off on September 15th. Blizzard is returning to the Prime Evils and the well-known scholar Deckard Cain, who will guide you through a special commemoration of epic battles against powerful bosses from the series' history. On the same day, the Age of Hatred edition for Nintendo Switch 2 launches.

In the first half of 2027, a new Amazon class will be added—a legendary warrior who traditionally wields both a bow and an iconic spear. With these updates, Blizzard is also celebrating 30 years of the Diablo brand.

Diablo – Animated Series

Blizzard is preparing an animated series set in the grim world of Diablo, in collaboration with Netflix. The creators haven't revealed a specific release date yet, but studio leadership sees great potential in series production – other franchises, especially Overwatch and Warcraft, might see similar screen adaptations.

World of Warcraft: Forever

At BlizzCon, the third version, World of Warcraft: Forever, was announced, offering a stable version of the game without the need to constantly buy new expansions. The game launches on November 4th, 2026, with the beta starting as early as September 17th. The character level cap will remain permanently at sixty – instead of further level increases, the creators promise primarily new content.

Developers are also adding a new race, the Skyborne, and vast areas to explore – hundreds of quests await, along with the ability to switch between old and new graphics at any time.

World of Warcraft: The Last Titan

The expansion The Last Titan represents the final chapter of the Worldsoul Saga, a major story arc that has been running in the game for several years. Blizzard plans to release this massive expansion in 2027, but they are intentionally keeping content details secret for now – they don't want to spoil the end of the currently running Midnight expansion. During the presentation, they only showed a short cinematic trailer.

Warcraft III: Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom

After more than twenty years, players have received the first new story campaign for Warcraft III – the Forsaken Kingdom expansion, which you can play right after its grand announcement! The story revolves around the fall of Lordaeron and the origin of the Forsaken race. Blizzard offers over thirty hours of brand-new content.

While playing, you will also encounter a new neutral hero – the Forsaken Paladin, and the update includes an improved Definitive Edition graphics mode.

StarCraft

Speculation about a new game from the StarCraft universe has been confirmed. It won't be a traditional strategy game, and the title doesn't carry the number three. This time, the developers are creating a large open-world action shooter. The project is led by Dan Hay, who previously worked on the Far Cry series.

The Dominion cinematic trailer showcased soldier training before a battle against the Zerg. This clash with the alien swarm does not end well for the human soldiers. The game will be released in the spring of 2030, with no gameplay footage yet.

Overwatch – 10th Anniversary

The popular shooter Overwatch is currently celebrating 10 years since its release! The fifth season adds a support hero, Doctrine, with a distinct vampire theme. His special bat drones heal teammates and speed up their attacks. The hero's official launch will take place in October following September testing.

The creators are moving the character Sombra to the support role and completely concluding the Reign of Talon story. A new map, Watchpoint: Grimsvötn, is coming to the game, and the celebrations will be capped off by the future Overwatch Spotlight event. The anniversary was already commemorated on September 13th with a one-off tabletop RPG event, QuestWatch.

Hearthstone

The card game Hearthstone will receive a new expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, on October 20th. The story takes you to ancient Azeroth to face the ancient evil Old Gods. The new Assemble mechanic allows you to combine two cards into one stronger one. Developers have updated the Journal for a seamless connection of the story across expansions. The tactical Battlegrounds mode will get a new type of helper, Aberrations, on September 22nd. For the first time ever, this mode will also offer two-player co-op. In March 2027, Blizzard will add the Monk class to the game.

Heroes of the Storm

The team arena Heroes of the Storm is getting a new hero, Xal'atath. In this type of game, two teams of five characters traditionally fight each other. You can try out the new warrior on the test servers (PTR) right now (starting September 14th). The hero will enter the live game on September 28th, 2026. During the presentation, Blizzard surprisingly hinted at the imminent arrival of more playable characters. It seems the game will once again receive a regular supply of new content.