An alleged BlizzCon panel schedule is currently making the rounds and doubling down on pretty much every single Blizzard-related rumor of the last few months.
Classic+, a new StarCraft title, and the return to Northrend in The Last Titan: An anonymous 4chan image shared on Reddit appears to cover all the community’s hopes and dreams for the schedule of this year’s BlizzCon, which will take place on September 12 and 13. Is the leak credible, or are we looking at a meticulous collection of popular community theories?
What’s In The Leak
According to the alleged schedule, Blizzard plans to introduce a new StarCraft title right after the Opening Ceremony. “StarCraft Infantry” could be the long-awaited shooter that’s been talked about for years, although the image itself doesn’t identify it as one.
Next in line would be another World of Warcraft look at Northrend, strongly suggesting a connection to The Last Titan, WoW’s upcoming expansion and the last entry of the Worldsoul Saga.
After a relatively unspectacular-sounding “What’s Next” for Diablo 4, a Deep Dive for Warcraft Fables is next in line, which could be what everyone calls Classic+. However, the image itself does not make that connection. Not too long ago, a separate anonymous MMO-Champion thread used the Fables title and presented a specific list of claimed features.
The second day of BlizzCon would then open with a “What’s Next for Overwatch” followed by a “Meet the Teams” of Warcraft Chronicles. An earlier Reddit post connected that name to a rumored Warcraft RTS based on a separate anonymous roadmap, but again, the schedule image itself does not describe the project.
After that, a “World & Lore” Panel for StarCraft Infantry would follow, with a Hearthstone Fireside Chat as the last panel shown in the alleged schedule.
Is The Leak Credible?
By now, well-informed readers have noticed that this leak contains an almost too-perfect mix of known information, leaked content, and the community’s wishful thinking.
Getting three new products – a StarCraft shooter, WoW Classic+, and a Warcraft RTS – out of this year’s BlizzCon sounds too good to be true. Continued Patch 1.60 activity supports ongoing work on the Classic branch called “Camelot”, while Jason Schreier’s statements in his book Play Nice support the existence of a StarCraft shooter project. However, neither establishes the names shown in this image or confirms a BlizzCon announcement, of course.
Where Is Blizzard’s Official Schedule?
The best way to test this leak is to compare it with this year’s actual BlizzCon schedule from Blizzard Entertainment. As of August 27, the official event site still says that the full schedule is coming soon. Blizzard published its 2023 schedule one week before BlizzCon, making an early September reveal for this year’s schedule plausible.
However, that particular 2023 schedule didn’t reveal the announcements themselves and included a whole lot of “What’s Next” and “Deep Dive” panels – so we can only hope to get a few more breadcrumbs to chew on this time around before the ‘con!
