Blizzard has announced its new Blizzard Showcase: Viewers’ Guide, outlining a month-long series of developer-led spotlights that will set the tone for 2026 across its biggest universes.
Blizzard: The Next Chapter And 35 Years Of Craft
At the heart of the announcement is “Blizzard: The Next Chapter,” a curated experience featuring roughly 400 physical artifacts that celebrate milestones from the studio’s earliest days through its modern hits—and even what’s still to come. These artifacts are designed to honor key releases, iconic moments, and the memories shared between the developers and the community over the past 35 years.
Blizzard frames the Showcase as both a look forward and a tribute to the artists, makers, and visionaries who build its games, as well as the players who keep those worlds alive. The company explicitly positions 2026 as a fresh starting point, using this event to underline that its next chapter is as much about community as it is about technology, storytelling, and live service evolution.
What Is The Blizzard Showcase?
The Blizzard Showcase is a series of scheduled, franchise-specific broadcasts that promise “big announcements, sneak peeks, and teases” across Blizzard’s universes. Rather than a single, one-off show, Blizzard is spreading the news across several dates, letting each major title have its own focused spotlight.
Blizzard emphasizes that these spotlights will be developer-led, suggesting in-depth segments that go beyond trailers, with commentary, context, and hints at future content. The studio is encouraging players to mark their calendars and either watch live or catch up on demand, reinforcing that these will be tentpole moments rather than minor updates.
World Of Warcraft: State Of Azeroth
The festivities begin with World of Warcraft: State of Azeroth, the first scheduled presentation in the Viewers’ Guide. This broadcast airs on:
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January 29 at 9:00 a.m. PST
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January 29 at 5:00 p.m. GMT
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January 30 at 2:00 a.m. KST
Players can tune in on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel and Twitch channel, giving both VOD-focused and live audiences easy access. A “State of Azeroth” title strongly hints at a broad, holistic update—expect discussion of current expansions or seasons, upcoming gameplay systems, story direction, and possibly cross-game ties with other Blizzard universes.
For long-time fans, this timing—early in the year, at the start of Blizzard’s 35th anniversary celebrations—sets the stage for how WoW will evolve throughout 2026. With live service games under constant iteration, anchoring the Showcase around Azeroth signals WoW’s continued role as a pillar of Blizzard’s portfolio.
Overwatch Spotlight: Hero Shooter In Focus
Next on the calendar is the Overwatch Spotlight, scheduled for:
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February 4 at 10:00 a.m. PST
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February 4 at 6:00 p.m. GMT
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February 5 at 3:00 a.m. KST
This presentation will stream on the Overwatch YouTube and Twitch channels. By giving Overwatch its own dedicated slot, Blizzard is clearly preparing to talk about what’s next for its hero shooter—whether that’s new heroes, maps, modes, balance philosophies, or changes to seasonal content.
A focused spotlight also gives the developers room to address the competitive ecosystem, community feedback, and their longer-term vision for the Overwatch universe. In the context of the Blizzard Showcase, the Overwatch segment serves as a key pulse check on how Blizzard views its live multiplayer ambitions going into 2026.
Hearthstone Spotlight: Cards, Modes, And Meta
Card game fans won’t have to wait much longer after that, as Blizzard has slated a Hearthstone Spotlight for:
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February 9 at 9:30 a.m. PST
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February 9 at 5:30 p.m. GMT
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February 10 at 2:30 a.m. KST
The event can be watched via the Hearthstone YouTube channel and Hearthstone Twitch channel. While Blizzard hasn’t detailed the exact content of the show, a franchise-focused spotlight is the perfect venue for talking about upcoming expansions, new card sets, mode updates (such as Battlegrounds or other alternate formats), and long-term changes to the game’s meta.
Given Hearthstone’s cadence of expansions and seasonal content, fans can reasonably expect teasers or reveals that set up the next major beats in the game’s lifecycle. In the broader Showcase lineup, Hearthstone’s segment underscores Blizzard’s desire to keep its strategy and card game audience engaged in parallel with its big RPG and action titles.
Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight
Rounding out the announced schedule is the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight, a marquee event that caps off this first wave of broadcasts. Its showtimes are:
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February 11 at 2:00 p.m. PST
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February 11 at 10:00 p.m. GMT
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February 12 at 7:00 a.m. KST
Viewers will be able to watch via the Diablo YouTube channel and Diablo Twitch channel. By branding this as a 30th Anniversary Spotlight, Blizzard is signaling both a retrospective celebration and a forward-looking roadmap for the Diablo franchise.
Anniversary spotlights are natural stages for revisiting the legacy of earlier entries while aligning fans behind the future of the series. With Blizzard already highlighting “Blizzard: The Next Chapter” and its 400 artifacts as part of a broader celebration, Diablo’s 30-year milestone slots neatly into a narrative of honoring history while teasing what comes next for Sanctuary.
Where And How To Watch
Blizzard is keeping things straightforward: each franchise’s showcase will stream on its respective official YouTube and Twitch channels, matching how most players already consume live gaming content. WoW, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo all have established channels, and Blizzard is clearly leaning on those existing audiences rather than funneling everything into a single, generic broadcast feed.
Each presentation is scheduled with three regional time slots—PST, GMT, and KST—so that players across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific can tune in at reasonable hours. Blizzard also confirms that every showcase will be available on demand after the live stream, making it easy to catch up on announcements, trailers, and developer segments you might have missed.
Setting The Stage For BlizzCon 2026
Crucially, Blizzard notes that “with BlizzCon 2026 on the horizon, this is only the beginning.” That phrasing positions the Blizzard Showcase as a multi-part prologue to whatever the company has planned for its flagship convention later in the year.
By distributing reveals and teases across January and February, Blizzard can build steady momentum, keep each community engaged, and then use BlizzCon 2026 to deliver the biggest surprises and deep dives. The Showcase also gives the studio room to test how players respond to early signals about direction, features, and tone, and potentially refine its BlizzCon plans accordingly.
Why This Matters For Blizzard Fans
For long-time Blizzard followers, the Showcase represents a blend of nostalgia and forward motion: the 400-artifact “Blizzard: The Next Chapter” exhibit and the 35-year celebration sit alongside concrete, date-specific broadcasts for WoW, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo. It’s a statement that Blizzard wants to honor its legacy while actively communicating its future plans in a structured, predictable way.
With each franchise getting its own spotlight, fans can expect more tailored updates rather than broad, one-size-fits-all announcements. And with BlizzCon 2026 explicitly teased as “only the beginning,” it’s clear this Blizzard Showcase is designed as the opening act for a much larger year of reveals across Blizzard’s universes.
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