Does the revival of classic Blizzard games signal the return of the "old Blizzard"?

Maybe not, but a cautious optimism has emerged as Blizzard finds opportunities to regain goodwill.

When you make a purchase through links on our site, we may receive an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.

K. Kwanghee Woo is a veteran of the StarCraft scene, having covered esports for The Hub since 2002. He is currently part of the StarCraft 2 community's efforts to keep the game up to date in collaboration with Blizzard.

There's a generation of millennial gamers who are haunted by an entity called the "old Blizzard," supposedly a more competent, creative, and virtuous version of today's Microsoft subsidiary based in Irvine, California.

For those suffering from nostalgia, BlizzCon 2026 was reminiscent of the good old days of Blizzard — at least in terms of ambition and scale — as the developers made a series of big announcements, including World of Warcraft: Forever, Diablo 5 and an open-world shooter set in the StarCraft universe.

The biggest moment, however, may have been the first reveal that took place on stage, when Blizzard boss Johanna Faris received a mild reception after announcing that Heroes of the Storm - Blizzard's niche MOBA had been relegated to bare bones maintenance in 2022.

Blizzard must have produced dozens of versions of their stage adaptations in the lead up to BlizzCon, and they knew full well that the introduction of Heroes of the Storm's first new champion in six years would barely register on the audience's radar compared to the rest of their roster. With that in mind, you have to wonder if leading with HOTS wasn't just an odd sequence, but a conscious and empathetic choice.

Sunset games failing to meet certain business benchmarks is a widespread industry practice, and from a certain perspective, any negative reaction to HOTS being put on ice could have been considered unrealistic and justified - come on, at least the servers didn't shut down!

After Warcraft 3's first new campaign in 23 years, let's normalize the release of new DLC for ancient RTS games.

Why is Blizzard still announcing games years before release? "We want to convey our confidence in some of our biggest future bets"

StarCraft 2 was included in Blizzard's BlizzCon digital products, which is more proof that the new game is coming soon, right?

At the same time, you don't have to be a Hotz player with hundreds of hours invested to understand the great sense of betrayal. Blizzard may not have been an active participant in every aspect of the myth-making surrounding it in its glory days, but the company certainly enjoys the notion that it has a uniquely privileged relationship with its fans. Even as Blizzard became more and more corporate, some still believed that Blizzard would keep an implicit pact: "It will never put a game before its community.

In resuming active development for Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard seems to be stating that this is a standard they still want to live up to.

Xal'atath Reveal Trailer | Heroes of the Storm - YouTube

Well, unconditionally. There's no roadmap or grand promise for the future of HOTS, and James Yen, affectionately known as the game's "caretaker," has carefully managed his tone in interviews to focus on "sustainability" and make sure the "we've come a long way" mentality doesn't get out of hand. However, for now, this seems to be a more than acceptable state of affairs for the HOTS community. There's an air of optimism that hasn't been there in years, and HOTS players even get a rush of classic WoW nostalgia for complaining about Xal'atath being released.

Even in the harder-to-appease corners of Blizzard fans, BlizzCon offered reason for cautious optimism. Warcraft 3: Reforged had a disastrous launch in 2020, with gamers criticizing the quality of the remastered graphics, the lack of multiplayer features, and the overall feeling that it needed to be baked in for a long time. Reforged has received numerous updates since then, culminating in the release of Forsaken Kingdom – an all-new, full-length DLC campaign – over BlizzCon weekend.

The reception hasn't been generally positive - there's sticker shock around the $30 price tag and constant complaints from the original Reforged launcher that can be impossible to address. However, at the risk of generalizing about a community that includes both ultra-traditional PvP gamers and casual story-focused fans, most players seem to agree that Forsaken Kingdom is an interesting take on a 24-year-old RTS classic.

Blizzard is now Microsoft's top studio, according to leaked emails

BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony Recap and Live Blog - Future of Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft

Blizzard promises to make blue elves look worse in World of Warcraft: Forever (positive)

On the other hand, series like Diablo may show just how far this new care of old games can go. Shortly before Diablo 4's release in 2023, Diablo 3 went into unofficial maintenance mode, with no new content actively being developed. Major updates for Diablo 1: Resurrected, Diablo: Immortal and Diablo 4 have been released this year to mark the series' 30th anniversary, but Diablo 3's content has been conspicuously absent – especially as Blizzard has touted the game's staying power with millions of players.

Presumably the fear of cannibalizing users kept all of the "mainline" series resources committed to Diablo 4 (and later Diablo 5), which makes sense when you reluctantly put on your shareholder hat. However, with World of Warcraft announcing its third distinct fork, you'll have to wonder why Blizzard hates Diablo fans sampling a wider range of demon flesh.

The most pessimistic interpretation would be that nothing has really changed at Blizzard and that its specific decisions about new content for old games were the result of projects failing the cost-benefit analysis test.

However, even without access to internal figures, it's hard to imagine a world where a decision-maker would look at a new HOTS champion and say "yeah, that's definitely the highest-grossing investment at this time" or "yeah, that's the big PR move that's going to bring everyone back to us."

Instead, it seems like limited opportunities are emerging for Blizzard to be the "good guy," and when things go well, developers with a vested interest in certain franchises are poised to take advantage.

So, no, old Blizzard folks are bummed that it's not back, and it may never be. Still, there's still a heart beating at Blizzard's heart, and if you're lucky, some oxygen might find its way into your favorite game.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please log out and back in, then you will be prompted to enter your display name.

Quarterfinals: Vote for the best RTS unit of all time

The largest RTS unit of all time set by democracy

Stronghold 4 has plenty of castles and a rogue's gallery of oddballs to contend with.

Warcraft 3: Reforged adds always-online requirement, removes LAN mode

I don't know what Rick and Morty is about because I converted GTA 5 to its full copy

The RTX 4090 was released four years ago today, and now that the RTX 5090 is rumored to be coming soon, I can't help but look at it with a warm glow.

Yahtzee is still pessimistic about video games, and good for him

Steam Weekly Review: The Strange Case of Wonder Boy in Monster Land's Suspicious PC Game

RPGs are simply better when you're stupid

2026 OLED monitors can almost recreate the perfect resolution of a 90s CRT, but Windows will have to change before it reaches true nirvana.