Resident Evil movie director Zach Cregger has shared his thoughts on the ongoing debate and discussion about physical media in games. He wasn't speaking directly about Sony's decision to end support for physical game discs in 2028, but rather commenting generally on the matter.

Speaking to IndieWire, Cregger said he is "not a physical media guy" today. He said he was previously, but he is a person who often loses or damages the physical media he owns, and he doesn't have enough space for all the discs and boxes he might collect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOhRtPbr8mI

Cregger said he is "not bent out of shape" about downloading games because "at least it means it's always going to be there when I need it."

At the same time, Cregger said he's aware that companies can "just delete it" even after someone has paid. "And, yeah, that's too bad. I don't like that," he said.

Sony's decision to end support for physical games may make sense financially, but it's upsetting people who still buy physical media, and there are many of these people. In the last year, Sony sold many millions of physical game discs. But starting in January 2028, discs from Sony and other companies will no longer be supported, so everyone will have to buy games through the PlayStation Store.

The move to end support physical game discs on PlayStation is really about profitability and control, experts say. Microsoft recently announced a disc-to-digital program for Xbox, but many believe the company's next-gen platform, Project Helix, will not support discs.

Something else at play here is that, if next-gen consoles are indeed priced at $1,000 or more, Sony and Microsoft may sell fewer of them. But by eliminating discs, Sony and Microsoft can make up some of the difference by selling digital games exclusively, and these have fatter margins.

The Resident Evil movie, which is backed by Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions, is set for release on September 18.

There's been speculation for months over who could be voicing the GTA 6 cast, but nothing has been officially confirmed, either by developer Rockstar or any of the starring talents, until now.

At the BAFTA TV Tea Party, held at The Maybourne Beverly Hills in California, actor Stephen Root was in support of his Emmy nomination for his role as Wyck in Apple's Widow's Bay. However, when asked about the rumors around his involvement in GTA 6, Root confirmed (via AP) that he does appear in the game.

"Yeah, you're going to see me in there," he confirmed. "I think from the first rollout of GTA that they were doing almost a year ago they had my character in there, and there were too many people that knew me from King of the Hill and my voice. So, I think that secret kind of got divulged then."

https://youtu.be/kTFxs3AcBCQ

"I'm so happy to be involved with it; it's an amazing thing to look at," he added.

Root, who is known for voicing King of the Hill's Bill Dauterive and playing Milton Waddams in Office Space among hundreds of other credits, will play Brian Heder. Although he didn't confirm as much in the interview clip from AP, Root's distinctive voice makes him easy to pick out from the various GTA 6 trailers.

Root played Office Space's Milton Waddams.

Brian is a veteran drug smuggler working around the Leonida Keys area and also seems to be protagonist Jason Duval's landlord--although he doesn't charge him any rent.

Rather than just a random NPC, Brian seems to be a key figure in the story of GTA 6. He's got his own profile on the official GTA 6 website, for a start. That profile notes that Brian's still moving drugs through his boatyard with his third wife, Lori, but prefers to let others do his dirty work.

GTA 6 will be released on November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Rockstar is hard at work fighting drones and hackers to keep the game's secrets safe.

StarCraft's reveal trailer squarely put the focus on the Terrans, who later in the cinematic face a terrifying confrontation with the Zerg. The franchise's three franchises--including the Protoss--have always been a central element of what distinguishes StarCraft from other strategy games. Although the Protoss were effectively absent from the trailer, they are a foe you will face at some point.

GameSpot spoke with GM and creative director Dan Hay at BlizzCon and asked him about how the three factions will interact with each other. Although he was expectedly coy on specifics, he did offer up some thoughts.

"The answer to that question is I absolutely unequivocally can't say," Hay said. "But what I can do is tell you what I would want as a player. I'll hint at sort of not what we're doing, but some of the things that we think about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw&pp=0gcJCf4LAYcqIYzv

"Of course, what you want to be able to do... you think about the Protoss and how reverent we are. They're older, and there's a mystique and a grandness to them, right? They have just a completely different flavor. Then you have the Zerg, and the Zerg are just numberless; they're infinite from the standpoint of they just overwhelm you with sheer organic power. Then you have the Terrans, that are this group of... they're working their way through the sector in kind of a haphazard and industrial way. We want that feeling.

"We want it to not all just be one taste. So we want to have moments where you're fighting things that are organic, and then moments where you're fighting things that are this wonderful legacy and that are ancient. I want to tell you a lot more, but I can't."

Hay did point out something that was easy to miss in the trailer: a small hint of the Protoss. 

"You saw more than the Zerg in the trailer," he said. "If you look a little deeper, there's a moment when the thing opens and you hear that great horn go off. If you look in the background—just in the background, adjust the lighting just a tiny bit—you'll see some architecture that is very not Terran and very not Zerg. It's there."

Hay also confirmed a third-person perspective for StarCraft. While the trailer may not reflect gameplay, it does showcase one way that could impact the feel of the game, as we see the Terran soldier look up in terror at the size of a Zerg Overlord, something you ordinarily only see from an isometric camera view in past StarCraft games.

He also said StarCraft will have a "single-player focus" and offered some insight into why the game was announced now despite arriving in 2030.

If you walked away from the StarCraft reveal excited for the franchise to return, but unsure what this new game even is, you're not alone. Aside from being described during the BlizzCon Opening Ceremony as an open-world shooter, Blizzard didn't share much else. In an interview with GameSpot, Blizzard GM Dan Hay provided a few more details, including the fact that it's a third-person game.

The StarCraft franchise, having taken the form of real-time strategy games previously, has typically used an isometric perspective. When it came to choosing what perspective to offer in the new shooter, it sounds like it wasn't a difficult decision.

"Oh, that's easy," Hay said when GameSpot asked him about whether StarCraft will be a first- or third-person game. "I want to be able to see my armor. First thing we did is we built it, put it on a turntable, and spun it around like, 'Ah, awesome, cool!' I want to be able to see it, so third-person, right?

"That doesn't mean that we don't have the license to, in a couple of spaces, do a little bit different and whatnot, but third-person: You get to see your armor, you get to see the full weight of everything you have, and then you get to see stuff that's in my head that I can't tell you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw&pp=0gcJCf4LAYcqIYzv

Hay spoke to us a great deal about the fantasy of having this armor to protect you. Asked about character progression or customization, he said, "If I was to get—in theory, hypothetically, purely hypothetically—this is what I would want: I would want to be able to make sure that my armor can be made better, stronger, and different. I would also want to be able to make sure that I could make it feel like mine. I would want it to be a visitation of the legacy of the things that I had done. I would want to show that it looked different from the first moment that I got it to the last moment I got it. So, read into that how much you will hypothetically, but that's what I would want as a player."

"We have to make sure that we're thinking about—and I have to be careful not to talk about this too much—combat has to feel powerful," he added. "You're in this armor; you're a living tank. You have to feel powerful. When you hold that Gauss rifle, and the thing weighs something ridiculous, you have to feel like you're just pushing through the Zerg. The Zerg have to feel like those raptorial claws are going to shuck you like an oyster in that thing. So you have to feel the weight of all that.

"We take that very seriously. We know that people who are out there are going to be going, 'The teaser was amazing, super cool, the story sounds great, but we want to see that combat. We want to feel those moments. We want to feel the exploration, the sense of discovery, and we also want to feel this notion of disruption—that when I go out into the world, it pushes back in a way that I wasn't expecting, and then I have to figure out a new way to play.' It's how our world works."

Hay also revealed to us that StarCraft is a single-player game (or single-player is at least the focus) and shared why Blizzard decided to reveal it so soon, given it won't be out until 2030.

StarCraft is "focusing on single-player," StarCraft creative director and general manager Dan Hay and associate manager of development operations Anna Lee Hertling said in an interview with GameSpot.

One of the biggest announcements of BlizzCon 2026 was the return of StarCraft, described as an open-world shooter and slated for a 2030 release. Aside from its impressive reveal cinematic, there wasn't much additional information about how StarCraft would play or what the shooter reboot of the RTS franchise would entail.

Now, we have some more details. When asked whether StarCraft would be single-player or co-op, Hay said the team is "focusing on single player." 

"We are focused right now on the conversation of focusing on single-player, focusing on that Marine fantasy, and then making sure that we think about what it is to be that character," Hay said. "That's what we're saying for now."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw&pp=ygUSZ2FtZXNwb3Qgc3RhcmNyYWZ0

He said players will not create their own character but play a named character that can "build a reputation and a rapport" with other in-game characters. He said the game's story will have a beginning, middle, and an "end," and that Blizzard wants it to feel like a "boxed product." Thought it's story will have an end, Hay said Blizzard wants the game to be one players can visit, explore, leave, and come back to.

"We like a named character, right?" Hay said. "When it comes down to this, we want to be able to make sure that what you have is a character that has a name, a character that people in the world can know. What it does it it makes the story have a little bit more life to it."

Hay continued: "What you want to be able to do is have people--and I have to be super careful, Anna Lee will abosultey stop me if I talk too much about the story--but there's nothing...I think about a TV show like Deadwood, which is one of my top five favorites. What I love is the idea that all of those characters know each other and they have a reputation. You go in, and they know each other on a Tuesday; they know each other on a Thursday afternoon at like 3:08, right? What you want is to have a named character that can build a reputation and a rapport with these characters, and that we can have feel like they're part of this world."

Other tidbits shared by Hay during the interview include the fact that StarCraft will be third-person rather than first, as well as why Blizzard decided to announce it now, four years in advance.

Thanks to rumors and reports, the announcement of a new StarCraft game taking the form of an open-world shooter did not come as a complete surprise at BlizzCon's Opening Ceremony. What is surprising is when it's coming: 2030. That's a long time from now, and we've heard other developers lament announcing their games too soon. So what made Blizzard reveal StarCraft so far in advance?

"We totally get the question. You walk that kind of knife's edge of how much do we want to show, when do we want to show," Blizzard GM Dan Hay told GameSpot at BlizzCon. "We've been working on it for a little bit now, and we feel like we've got something that we wanted to show. We felt like this was the right moment. As we're building out the story, the characters, and kind of the feeling of the worlds that we're building, we felt like, 'You know what? We've got enough to show.'"

Hay said that with Blizzard being confident in what it's developed so far, it didn't want to further delay going public and getting the benefit of putting it in front of fans.

"There's a moment when you're making a game where you're like, 'Have we landed the emotion? Do we feel like we have enough of the verve, the identity, and the feel of it to start to share it?'" Hay continued. "About a year ago, we started to feel like we were there, so we were like, 'Okay, it's time to show it. It's time to get feedback.'

"What's super important about it is you want to put it out there, get people to feel the emotion and the value of it, and you want to be there live to be able to get a sense of how they feel about it. We were in the room; it felt great. People were going nuts."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw

Feedback from fans at this point can only be surface level. Although we know the new game, known at least for now simply as StarCraft, is an open-world shooter, we've yet to see any gameplay--the reveal took the form of an extended cinematic setting up the vibe, but not tipping Blizzard's hand in terms of how it will play. Blizzard confirmed to GameSpot that StarCraft will be a third-person, single-player game, but that's not much to go on.

Still, Hay said he sees value in attaching a date to the project and having developers examine their decision making through that target.

"Yeah, we also know that the date of 2030 is one of those things where--I like a date," Hay said. "I like the idea that there's something out there for us to go after. It helps us sometimes when you get into a meeting and you're thinking about the creative, and you go, 'All right, well how long are we going to wax poetic on this? How long are we going to think about this?' The answer is, 'Can we get all this done by that date?' If the answer is no: Let's rethink, let's refocus, and let's make sure we're thinking about players wanting to get this at the highest level of fidelity possible, but in a reasonable amount of time. That's why we picked that date."

A new StarCraft game that currently feels out of reach isn't a new thing; StarCraft: Ghost infamously was in development for ages but ultimately never came out. Although Hay was not at Blizzard during that era (he spent many years working on the Far Cry franchise at Ubisoft), we asked what Blizzard could take away from Ghost in order to avoid repeating that situation. Although he had little to say about that, he did share more about Blizzard's vision for the new StarCraft.

"I think our focus is we're building a new team. We've got a whole bunch of energy to it from the standpoint of this really comes from what we call a creative ache, right?" Hay said. "We really started with--when you think about the genesis of it--what's the story we want to tell? How do we want to make this game unique and different? The answer is, in previous versions of StarCraft, you were up above, looking down at the battlefield, and you had the deployment of many Marines and many different factions. This time, we were like, 'What if it was just one? What if you only got one suit? What if you had to take care of it?'

"We use the analogy of: You know that first time you get your first car? The first car was probably not great, but it was amazing because it was your first car. What happens when you get this thing and you have to take care of it? What happens when you start to see a world that has opportunity and discovery, but things that you can also pick up and maybe make your armor better? How do you go out into the world and start to take care of this thing and push against it?

"Then you start to think about, 'Wait a minute, I'm in this armor.' You saw it in the teaser: The character in the teaser gets the armor and is feeling super powerful and everything, and it's a 10-foot-tall thing that weighs a thousand pounds. You think, 'There's nothing that I can't beat.' Then you watch his face as the doors open, and you hear that growl of the Zerg. You watch his face--and we spent a ton of time just on the facial expression--of just loss, just the understanding of the distance between what we believe we can do and the reality of what life teaches us. We captured all that in that moment on his face of, 'I might be in trouble here.' But he put up a valiant effort.

"Then you realize: Okay, our story is darker. It's grittier. It's a little bit meaner; it has more stakes and more bite to it. So we thought that that was a great place to start: Put your boots on the ground and say, 'Can you do better than the character in that teaser?'"

Hay also revealed to us that StarCraft is third-person with a single-player focus, and yeah--you'll fight the Protoss, too.

Diablo 4 won't receive more expansions moving forward, as Blizzard shifts its focus to the newly revealed Diablo 5 instead.

As revealed during BlizzCon 2026's opening ceremony, Diablo 5 is slated to be coming in Spring 2029 and is set 100 years after Diablo 4 in a world where the titular Lord of Terror reigns supreme. In an interview with PC Gamer, Diablo game director Brent Gibson said there were no plans for additional Diablo 4 expansions, as the team is instead "focused on seasons [for Diablo 4] and getting to Diablo 5." He added that Blizzard told the "story of Hatred" culminating in the Lord of Hatred expansion, and now it's moving forward to tell the "story of Terror."

That doesn't mean support for Diablo 4 will end anytime soon. It sounds like Diablo 4's seasons will lead into the events of Diablo 5, even though the latter takes place a century later. That gives Blizzard room to set up Diablo 5's story, though Gibson said Blizzard doesn't "have a perfect picture" where it will all go because it wants to see how fans "react season to season." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FfJppNJsNY

Diablo 4 is the only Diablo game to have received more than one expansion. Prior to release, Blizzard said it would receive "annual" expansions, though that quickly didn't come to pass. The game's Lord of Hatred expansion was released in April of this year, around a year-and-a-half after Diablo 4's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. 

It's not a new expansion, but Diablo 4 is receiving a new class. The Amazon will join Diablo 4 as a standalone DLC next year. Diablo 4 Season 15, Hell's Legacy, begins September 15, and will see the return of iconic locations, items, Deckard Cain. The iconic Hordadrim will task players with battling memories of the Prime Evils from previous Diablo games, including Diablo himself.

Diablo 5 isn't coming until Spring 2029, but Blizzard has already revealed three of the game's playable classes.

Two of them will be familiar to Diablo 3 fans: the Monk and Demon Hunter. The third will be an all-new class, the Plague Knight. The Plague Knight sounds similar to Death Knights from Blizzard's other fantasy franchise and are described as "walking death" that spread disease and pestilence wherever they go, then consume it to increase their power. 

Blizzard revealed plenty of new details about Diablo 5 during a panel and subsequent blog post following the game's cinematic reveal as part of the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony. In addition to the three classes, Blizzard outlined the state of Sanctuary in Diablo 5 and how players will navigate it. Rather than journeying to towns, players will instead build a wandering caravan of survivors in a world that's been destroyed, and currently ruled, by Diablo himself. According to a developer blog post, Diablo 5's world will be "procedural," where terrain, monsters, and points of interest will change in the wake of the Lord of Terror's influence.

As for the survivors that players will call allies, Blizzard said they will serve roles as vendors and companions. Two examples of companions that will accompany players are a former Sister of the Sightless Eye and a lost treasure goblin searching for meaning "in a world where greed has lost its meaning," Blizzard said. 

Though Diablo 5 is still early in development, there was some information about how it will play compared to Diablo 4. An early look at the game's inventory screen and items is extremely reminiscent of Diablo 2. Blizzard said it's a goal for items in Diablo 5 to be "readable, memorable, and worth chasing across hundreds of hours." Like in Diablo 2, items will take up more space in one's inventory depending on their size. Blizzard also confirmed item sets will return, as will Diablo 2-style runes and runewords. 

Blizzard may be putting the focus on Diablo 5, but there is still new content coming for Diablo 4. A new class, the Amazon, will be sold as a standalone DLC pack in the first half of next year, and the game will continue to receive new seasonal content. Diablo 4 Season 15, Hell's Legacy, goes live on September 15 and will see the return of Deckard Cain. The iconic Horadrim will task players with confronting remnants of the Prime Evils, including Diablo himself.

World of Warcraft Forever is Blizzard's next iteration on WoW Classic, one that will add new content in the form of zones, quests, dungeons, raids, and even a new playable race while keeping the old-school MMORPG's world and gameplay intact.

Revealed during BlizzCon 2026's opening ceremony, WoW Forever is Blizzard's attempt to give WoW Classic fans the "forever" game they've wanted for years. However, instead of the MMO progressing to the game's subsequent expansions and their new areas, as Classic has in the past, WoW Forever will instead keep the focus on WoW's original two continents, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.

Within that Classic backdrop will be up to 1,000 new quests, Blizzard said, as well as revamped zones, and three entirely new zones that fill out areas present on the map in vanilla WoW but were never accessible to players. There will be nine new dungeons to explore, two raids, and an additional PvP battleground. A new playable race is also part of the package: the Skyborne elves. One of the new playable zones will be their starting area, Blizzard said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEMrosrAVH0

In addition to all-new content, Blizzard will be revamping classes with new talents and skills, as well as allowing for new class and race combinations. An option to toggle HD visuals and old-school graphics will also be included. Blizzard will continue to update WoW Forever with new content, but won't raise the level cap past 60.

Unlike modern WoW, WoW Forever won't be focused on the endgame experience. Blizzard said many of the new dungeons and quests will be for characters under level 60. That aligns with what Blizzard said were its core principles in how it approached development of WoW Forever--that it should be about the journey, not the destination; the world itself is a character; and the game's social aspects should be a focus.

For those who want to continue experiencing the original version of Azeroth, the normal version of WoW Classic will still be playable.

Players won't have to wait long to experience this new version of Azeroth themselves. A playable beta will go live September 17, with the full version of WoW Forever launching November 4.

A new Warcraft 3 campaign exploring the origins of the Forsaken and the formation of the Undercity will be live later today, Blizzard announced as part of its BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony announcements.

Titled Forsaken Kingdom, the DLC campaign will put a spotlight on the last days of Lordaeron after it fell to Arthas and how it became the home of the Forsaken many players are familiar with in World of Warcraft. The campaign will be available in Warcraft 3: Reforged, Blizzard's once-maligned remaster of 2003's RTS classic. While the new campaign costs money, the 3.0 update for Warcraft 3: Reforged is free and also releases today. The update adds new visual improvements and quality-of-life features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1kXClUCyuA

This is just the latest update to Warcraft 3: Reforged that looks to salvage its poor reputation. In 2024, Blizzard released a 2.0 update as part of the franchise's 30th anniversary that sought to address many of the common complaints players have had with the remaster since its 2020 launch. Reports from the time indicated Warcraft 3: Reforged was the victim of budget cuts and rocky development, and even saw Blizzard expand its refund policy in the wake of its release.

Forsaken Kingdom will be the first new Warcraft RTS content since the release of the original Warcraft 3's Frozen Throne expansion in 2003. Earlier this year, Blizzard made it so players could access the classic version of Warcraft 3 through Battle.net without the need to also launch Warcraft 3: Reforged.

As is BlizzCon tradition, a new World of Warcraft cinematic premiered during the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, setting the stage for the MMORPG's next expansion, The Last Titan.

In a departure for BlizzCon, that glimpse was just about all fans learned about the new expansion, with Blizzard instead looking to put the focus more on the final content patch of the game's current Midnight expansion.

That update, titled Eclipse, will consist of a climactic showdown with the franchise's current main villain, Xal'atath. An in-game cinematic shown during the ceremony revealed Xal'atath's true objective, to merge with Azeroth's worldsoul and become unstoppable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI09FbRmCtc

Blizzard additionally teased a new standalone game mode, and yet another expansion Remix experience, will also be coming to Midnight before the expansion's end.

As for The Last Titan's setting, it takes players back to Northrend, the continent previously seen in 2008's Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Much like how Blizzard revamped Silvermoon City and the Blood Elf lands of Quel'thalas in Midnight to great results, Northrend will be completely rebuilt from the ground up. Blizzard said more details about The Last Titan will be shared next year.

The Last Titan was first announced at BlizzCon 2023, when Blizzard made the unprecedented move of announcing an entire trilogy of expansions all at once. Collectively, Blizzard called the three expansions The Worldsoul Saga, with a goal of bringing together many of WoW's disparate storylines from over the last 20 years into one fitting conclusion.

As the end of the trilogy, The Last Titan has a lot of expectations to live up to that the main storyline of WoW's two previous expansions, The War Within and Midnight, haven't exactly met. Regardless, it will still be exciting to see how Blizzard ties two decades' worth of story involving the Void, the Titans, and Azeroth herself together into one cohesive package.

New class additions to Hearthstone don't come often, but the next one has been announced during BlizzCon 2026's Opening Ceremony: The Monk is coming to the card game, leaving just the Evoker as the lone class to be left out.

The Monk's upcoming addition was one of several major pieces of news for Hearthstone revealed. A new expansion called Reign of the Black Empire that is set 10,000 years in the past will focus on the Black Empire and a struggle between the Old Gods and the Titans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib5EMar4b1E

If that excites the lore enjoyer in you, you'll also be happy to hear that the Journal is being transformed into The Journey. This is meant to give a more narrative-driven wrapper to the game, as it'll seek to tie the story together between expansions, modes, and limited-time events. The Journey will grow as you play through Reign of the Black Empire, tying together quests, achievements, and more elements of the game.

As far as the Monk goes, we don't know much in terms of how they'll play. We only got a short teaser for the new class, which marks the first such addition since the Death Knight arrived in 2022. The game originally launched with nine characters before later adding Demon Hunter and then Death Knight. The Monk will arrive in March 2027, with more details coming next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldzvHmT-ow

Other new features coming to Hearthstone include a new keyword, Assemble, which lets you effectively merge two minions into one, which sounds similar to Magnetize; you can pick specific text from their descriptions to create new combos. A new minion type, Aberrations, was also revealed, with their deaths feeding the gods in some way. Aberrations will be specific to Battlegrounds, which is also getting a 2v2 main ranked mode.

Reign of the Black Empire releases on October 20.

Diablo 5 is coming in Spring 2029, and it will take players to a world where Diablo himself reigns supreme.

Announced via a short teaser during the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, Blizzard revealed it's already at work on the next installment of the series. Set 100 years after the defeat of Mephisto in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, Diablo 5 will see the Lord of Terror return. However, instead of stopping him from destroying all of Sanctuary, he will actually have already won. 

Blizzard teased Diablo 5's story will revolve around what heroes have to become in a post-apocalyptic world that is already destroyed. More details will be shared about the game's lore, classes, and gameplay features, during a Diablo 5 panel as part of this weekend's convention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8HaSFXR7tU

Should Diablo 5 actually release in 2029, it will be the shortest gap between Diablo games in the franchise's history. There was a 12-year wait for Diablo 3 after Diablo 2, and another 11 years between Diablo 3 and 4. Diablo 5, in comparison, is slated to come just six years after Diablo 4--still a long time, but much shorter given the franchise's track record.

Blizzard has been on record saying it wants to create new Diablo games faster. In an interview earlier this year, Blizzard said that "over the next 30 years, maybe we get some out faster."

Diablo 4's next class is Amazon, Blizzard announced during the BlizzCon opening ceremony, but it won't be coming as part of a new expansion. Instead, Blizzard will sell the Amazon as a separate DLC class pack in the first half of next year.

The addition of the Amazon isn't exactly a surprise. First, it's an iconic class from Diablo 2, so it's a bit of a no-brainer there. Alongside the nostalgia factor, Diablo 4's latest expansion, Lord of Hatred, also took players to the literal home of the Amazons, Skovos. They featured heavily in the expansion's story but were not a playable class, with the expansion instead adding the Paladin and Warlock to Diablo 4's class roster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feXuKlwKMTA

While the Amazon isn't coming until 2027, Diablo 4's next season, Hell's Legacy, is coming much sooner. The season kicks off next week on September 15 and will celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary and feature the return of enemies, locations, and items from previous Diablo games. That will include the return of Deckard Cain, who will take players on a journey to confront Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto, meaning the Lord of Terror himself will finally make an appearance in Diablo 4.

Though it leaked ahead of time, Diablo 4 is officially coming to the Switch 2 as well, with a Lord of Hatred collection that includes both of the game's expansions.

After years of complaints, Overwatch is finally reworking two of its veteran heroes. Announced during BlizzCon 2026's opening ceremony, both Roadhog and Sombra will be receiving major reworks, with Sombra pivoting to being a support hero and Roadhog undergoing changes to make him more of a team player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBt8q49qD8k

Shortly after the reveal, Overwatch shared an updated look at both character's Hero kits. Below is a comprehensive overview of their changes:

Sombra

Of the two, Sombra is receiving the most significant redesign, pivoting from a Damage hero to Support. Whereas she used to be most effective at fast-paced, ambush-style combat, she will now be far more useful in team settings. Her Hack ability has been replaced with Hotfix, which allows her to freely hack health packs and enemy deployables as well as heal allies. Cyberspace replaces Virus, and sees Sombra launch a projectile that heals allies and weakens enemies. With the exception of CTRL ALT ESC, all of Sombra's Perks have been adjusted, and she now boasts Support passives.

Roadhog

By comparison Roadhog's changes are far less dramatic, with the most notable being the removal of Scrap Gun's Alt Fire. In lieu of this skill, Roadhog has been given Trash Compactor--an ability that allows Roadhog to absorb enemy projectiles and turn them into an explosive ball of scrap. This makes him far more effective as an actual Tank, granting him what seems like a fairly effective barrier that will hopefully deter players from abandoning their team in search of smaller firefights.

In addition to these changes, Blizzard has announced Overwatch's 54th character, Doctrine, is coming October 5.

Since its inception, Overwatch has positioned itself as an optimistic, science-fiction-driven world. Although some characters have introduced an element of the fantastical--the addition of the magical Wuxing University being the most notable tonal shift--the team behind the hero shooter has always prioritized scientific explanations for its heroes incredible abilities. Its newest character, however, seems to venture further into fantasy than ever before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK877kcyMTY

Revealed during BlizzCon 2026's opening ceremony, Doctrine is the next support hero coming to Overwatch. Oh and fun fact, he's a vampire--or vampire-inspired, at the very least. With a sceptre that heals and speeds up teammates yet dishes out major damage to enemies, Doctrine is an extremely powerful hero with a high mechanical floor. Interested in putting your skills to the test and giving him a whirl? You're in luck, as Doctrine's limited-time hero trial has officially kicked off and will run until September 14.

In addition to his sceptre, Doctrine can also unleash a swarm of bat drones, infuse allies, and "manipulate life force." Blizzard has described the hero as the "ultimate vampire fantasy." Below is a more thorough look at his Hero kit:

While Doctrine (real name Tamuka Yeukai) hails from Zimbabwe, he is accompanied by the Escort map Watchpoint: Grimsvotn, which depicts the Icelandic prison he is seen escaping in his debut cinematic. Doctrine joins Overwatch on the side of Talon, his trailer revealing him to be a close friend of Doomfist. This relationship also expresses itself mechanically, as the Overwatch team stated his kit complements Doomfist's extremely well.

In other Overwatch news, the team shared that two of its most criticized legacy characters, Sombra and Roadhog, are undergoing major changes.

Following numerous rumors dating back many months, it's official: StarCraft is returning with a new game, but that game won't be in the traditional real-time-strategy genre the franchise is known for. Instead, the new StarCraft game is described as an open-world shooter.

The news was revealed as part of BlizzCon's opening ceremony. However, that's essentially all we know, as the new game-referred to only as StarCraft--won't be released until 2030. As such, there were no further details shared about how it will play or anything else. 

After Blizzard's Dan Hay said, "It's about damn time" that we returned to the interstellar war of StarCraft, we did see a cinematic trailer. Dominion forces are shown being pumped up after being trained as elite warriors. They're then sent onto the battlefield against a massive wave of Zerg forces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw

When it does arrive, this will mark the first original game in the StarCraft franchise since the StarCraft II trilogy wrapped up with Legacy of the Void in 2015. The original game did receive a remaster, StarCraft Remastered, in 2017, but Blizzard's focus has otherwise shifted to its other franchises over the last decade.

While a StarCraft shooter had been rumored for some time, the reveal is still sure to come as a contentious piece of news for fans starved for a traditional StarCraft game. (The audible reaction from the crowd when "open-world shooter" was said was not necessarily one of elation.)

This isn't the first attempt to spin off the series into something else, as StarCraft Ghost was meant to be a stealth-action entry, but it was ultimately canceled prior to release. A recent report indicated that Nexon is seeking the StarCraft license in order to make a new game--possibly StarCraft III--so there may still be some hope for another StarCraft RTS.

Teases for a StarCraft revival began earlier this month, after the game's official website started to "glitch" and fans discovered hidden text logs. Each one appeared to be a secret transmission hinting at something on the horizon, with rumors circulating that it could be anything from a Helldivers-inspired co-op shooter game to the revival of StarCraft: Ghost.

But the main takeaway is that StarCraft is back, and in a big way. While it wasn't the first successful franchise to emerge from Blizzard, it still remains a key pillar for the company even after years of dormancy. The original StarCraft real-time strategy game and its Brood War expansion were huge hits upon release, and in South Korea, local internet cafes became hubs for competitive PvP that laid the groundwork for the rise of esports.

Well, that was unexpected. As part of the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, studio president Johanna Faries announced that Blizzard is partnering with Netflix on an animated Diablo series.

The announcement was made as Faries emphasized the studio is called Blizzard Entertainment, meaning it doesn't intend to limit itself to games. Overwatch and Warcraft were also specifically mentioned after the Diablo series' announcement, though Faries did not say if anything is official or concrete at this stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feXuKlwKMTA

Blizzard is no stranger to non-interactive adaptations of its games, of course, with the Warcraft movie releasing about a decade ago. That movie didn't exactly light the world on fire, critically or commercially, but an animated series or two may better fit Blizzard's IP.

No timeline was given for when we could see the Diablo animated series, but it was just one of several big announcements the company made during its opening ceremony. The biggest on the Diablo front included the debut of the Amazon in Diablo 4 and the reveal of Diablo 5.

Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard's MOBA mashup of its various franchises, has largely remained unchanged since its developers moved onto other priorities back in 2022. But as WoW's long-running storylines are moving toward a conclusion that involves Xal'atath, that character is set to be added to HotS, and she arrives quite soon.

Blizzard revealed the new addition as part of the BlizzCon Opening Ceremony. Xal'atath will join the Public Test Realm beginning this Monday, September 14, with a full release set for September 28. This will mark the first new character since Warcraft's Hogger was added in 2020. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wks8GLNUHsk

While Xal'atath might turn out to be a one-off addition to the game, it was teased that another character could be added in the future. Given balance updates and a skin have represented the bulk of what's changed since Hogger's launch, it's welcome to see anything of substance arrive for HotS.

BlizzCon is a big deal if you're a fan of all things Blizzard, as the weekend event kicked off with a traditional opening ceremony full of announcements and reveals for the company's biggest games--and a few surprises!

The biggest of these was easily the announcement that StarCraft will return in 2030, but this time, Blizzard is switching up genres as the sci-fi game goes from real-time strategy to open-world shooter. A new Diablo was also announced, and World of Warcraft fans were spoiled with several reveals. In case you missed it, you can catch all the trailers and news below.

Heroes of the Storm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wks8GLNUHsk&pp=0gcJCf4LAYcqIYzv

Heroes of the Storm is adding a new hero to its roster for the first time in six years, as Xal'atath is coming to the Nexus. You can try her out this weekend in the game.

For The First Time In 6 Years, Blizzard Is Bringing A New Character To Heroes Of The Storm

A Diablo animated series is in development at Netflix

The next announcement was about a Diablo animated series in development. Blizzard president Johanna Faries announced that it's being produced by Netflix.

"Diablo, I promise, is just the beginning," Faries teased. "To our Overwatch community, to our Warcraft community, and who knows, perhaps even some of our other universes."

StarCraft returns in 2030 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw

Ubisoft veteran Dan Hay was on stage to announce a brand-new StarCraft, which he described as an open-world shooter. The cinematic trailer showed off some gung-ho Dominion recruits training to be the best in the galaxy, but a few hours later, the remains of these fresh-faced soldiers were being scraped out of their warsuits.

StarCraft Is Officially Back, But It’s Taking A Much Different Form

Overwatch

Overwatch director Aaron Keller was next on stage, dressed in an incredible jacket themed around the game. A new animated trailer was shown off, featuring popular characters like former Talon leader Doomfist, Reaper, Widowmaker, and Sombra as they assaulted a prison pulled from the Watchpoint Gibraltar map. The video ended with a tease of the ninth hero joining Overwatch this year, Doctrine.

Doctrine is a stylish techno-vampire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw

Miranda Moyer and Ben Bell from the Overwatch team described Doctrine as a Support-class hero who wields a scepter in battle. He mixes vampiric and techno-powers together, and he can shroud enemies in darkness to hinder them. Doctrine can also use an "infuse" power to transform his next power. Doctrine's Hero Trial will be available for all Overwatch players later today.

Overwatch’s Newest Blood-Sucking Character Pushes The Game Even Further Into The Fantasy Genre

Big Overwatch changes are on the horizon

Sombra and Roadhog are getting some big reworks in Overwatch soon. Sombra is being turned into a Support-class hero, and a whole lot of content is planned for Season 5 of the game.

Overwatch Is Reworking Two Of Its Most Criticized Characters

A familiar face is coming to Diablo 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feXuKlwKMTA

Stay a while, and listen to what's next for Diablo! Tiffany Wat and Brent Gibson from the Diablo team announced that everyone's favorite Horadrim scholar, Deckard Cain, will return to Sanctuary soon. You can meet the fan-favorite character in Diablo 4 on September 15, when Season of Hell's Legacy launches.

Hell's Pawn is crossing over to Diablo Immortal

Todd McFarlane's Spawn is coming to Diablo Immortal, which makes my inner '90s kid very happy. Honestly, could you ask for a better crossover character in the free-to-play mobile game?

Diablo 4 lands on Switch 2 in September

And it'll be out on September 15! Switch 2 owners can grab Diablo 4: Age of Hatred Collection when it launches alongside the new Season of Hell's Legacy.

The Amazon is coming to Diablo 4

At long last, you can play as an Amazon in Diablo 4. This new take on the fan-favorite character will wield her signature bow, as well as the new javelin-class weapon. She'll be added to the game in the first half of 2027.

Diablo 5 launches in 2029 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8HaSFXR7tU

With the Age of Hatred having concluded in Diablo 4, it's time for the next chapter in the series. Diablo 5 is currently scheduled to launch in Spring 2029, and things look bleak. In Diablo 5, the ancient Lord of Terror has returned and has conquered Sanctuary.

"What must you become, when the world has already fallen?" Wat teased for the dark direction of Diablo 5.

Hearthstone's next expansion launches in October https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib5EMar4b1E

What's next for Hearthstone? A new expansion and a new gameplay mechanic while you explore a narrative focused on the brawls between Old Gods that shaped the world of Azeroth. The new Assemble mechanic will allow you to fuse two cards together, and the Hearthstone team says that it's well aware that there'll be some "pretty busted" combinations. A pool of 250 cards can make use of this mechanic, and some of the combinations shown off are wild. You can try it out for yourself when Reign of the Black Empire launches on October 20.

Hearthstone's new hero is panda-ring to the Warcraft crowd

That's right, the kung-fu panda known as Monk, is coming to Hearthstone soon!

Hearthstone’s First New Class In 4 Years And A More Story-Driven Journal Are On The Way

World of Warcraft: Midnight - Eclipse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI09FbRmCtc

World of Warcraft's Holly Longdale and Ion Hazzikostas introduced a new chapter in World of Warcraft's Worldsoul Saga, teasing "all gas and no brakes" in the new major content update. Eclipse will set the stage for a showdown with Xa'latath, and the new cinematic trailer showed her on the verge of a serious power-up.

World of Warcraft: The Last Titan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRnlcUqX5t4

While Eclipse is the next big narrative chapter in World of Warcraft, The Last Titan is where Blizzard is promising a big shake-up to the MMORPG as it wraps up 20 years of storytelling. More details on it will be shared next year.

Warcraft 3 is getting a new campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUobjOJgSqc

Longdale teased that Blizzard is "putting the war back in Warcraft" with the new campaign, Forsaken Kingdom, for Warcraft 3: Reforged. When can you play it? Today! Players will get to experience the fall of Lodaeron as Human armies took on mighty Orc forces. Other enhancements include a Definitive Edition graphical update, map editor improvements, and you can even select more units to command.

World of Warcraft: Forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerqLHQPN9Y

Azeroth is beckoning players back to where it all started, as we got a first look at World of Warcraft: Forever. The rumored Classic Plus mode for World of Warcraft will kick off with a beta on September 17 and launch on November 4. The game will include new dungeons, 10-20 player raids, the Skyborne as a playable race, account-wide perks, and new zones to explore.