During BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment announced a slew of new game sequels, spin-offs, and expansions, including Diablo 5, World of Warcraft: Forever, Warcraft 3 Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom, and a new StarCraft game.
The main stage panel kicked off with new Blizzard president, Johanna Faries, as she introduced the surprise return of Heroes of the Storm.
One of my personal favorite multiplayer games, Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA starring different characters from across Blizzard’s beloved franchises, including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, pitted together in real-time strategy battles.
While successful, the 2015 game never proved as popular as genre juggernauts, League of Legends and DOTA 2. It was put into “maintenance mode,” receiving its last major update back in 2022.
The new announcement revealed the first new hero coming to the free-to-play game since 2020, Xal’atath from World of Warcraft: Midnight. Xal’atath will arrive on September 28. Faries also teased at least one other new hero coming to HotS.
We’re so back!
Heroes of the Storm fans can also claim a free Dire Wolf mount pack, through September 27.
Next up, Diablo! Diablo 5 was officially announced, with a tentative Spring 2029 release window, and a teaser trailer. (The Diablo series is rated M for Mature).
Diablo 5 will actually feature the titular Lord of Terror himself, who was completely absent in Diablo 4, which told the stories of Lillith, followed by Mephisto.
Diablo 5 promises a darker era, which is saying something for a game world that practically invented the grimdark fantasy genre. Diablo has already conquered Sanctuary, and transformed the world into an apocalyptic kingdom overrun with demons. Unlike Diablo 4‘s static open world, the world of Diablo 5 is procedurally generated and ever-changing.
Three hero classes have been unveiled so far. The Demon Hunter and Monk return from Diablo 3, alongside a new Plague Knight class. Itemization will be heavily inspired by Diablo 2, including sets and runes.
World of Warcraft: Forever got the biggest reaction at the main stage. Originally rumored as “WoW Classic Plus,” WoW: Forever is similar to World of Warcraft: Classic, which launched back in 2019 as a recreation of vanilla WoW circa 2004. However, Forever looks to be more of a compromise between the old and new, taking vanilla WoW and adding new content, including zones, quests, raids, and races, while maintaining the lore setting of original game, pre-expansions.
Blizzard already announced one piece of new content for WoW: Forever, the Skyborne Elves. While WoW: Forever is included in the overall WoW subscription, access to the new Elves are locked behind a $29.99 Heroic Pack paywall.
World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4.
Of course, modern WoW is still chugging along nearly a dozen expansion packs later, currently in the midst of the Worldsoul Saga trilogy and the Midnight expansion.
Old school RTS fans can enjoy the surprising news of a new Warcraft 3 expansion! Warcraft 3 Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom is an all-new expansion to the 2002 strategy game — and it’s out now! The expansion adds an all-new, canonical campaign as players follow the Last Days of Lordaeron, helping bridge the gap of the rise of the Undead before World of Warcraft.
Forsaken Kingdom is available now for $29.99, or in a bundle with Reforged for $39.99. Reforged is the remaster of Warcraft 3 that released back in 2020, receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews.
I admit, I haven’t had a chance to play it yet (despite being a big WC3 fan back in the day). Hopefully it’s received some much-needed love in the years since.
But wait — there’s more! Blizzard also announced a new StarCraft game, alongside a darn cool cinematic trailer.
However, this new StarCraft is described as an open-world shooter, and single-player — none of which is normally associated with the classic multiplayer-friendly RTS series!
It’s a bold choice, but to be fair, Blizzard has been trying to make a StarCraft shooter for two decades.
The new StarCraft game has a tentative release of 2030. Oof!
BlizzCon 2026 is the first BlizzCon convention since 2023. The semi-annual convention celebrates all things Blizzard with a weekend event in Anaheim, California, including major announcements, developer panels, and early game demos.
