In context: Blizzard's plans for its annual Blizzcon event were thrown off track this year as the Covid-19 pandemic made its way throughout the globe. The company was forced to cancel the event entirely for 2020, which was likely quite a blow to its hype-building campaign for some of its upcoming projects.

Regardless, as the world has begun to recover from Covid-19, so too has Blizzard, and it is finally ready to push forward with Blizzcon's new online format in early 2021. The event will be called "Blizzconline," which is a bit of a goofy name, but we suppose it makes sense.

For those who typically stay at home for Blizzcon's festivities, not much will be changing here. As before, you'll be able to access the event live through the Battle.net client, so you can stay up to date on all the latest announcements, dev Q&As, and more.

However, the key difference here is that Blizzconline 2021 will be entirely free. Previously, at-home guests needed to purchase a "virtual ticket" to gain access to the "full" Blizzcon experience, but it seems Blizzard is feeling a bit more generous this year; not that we're complaining, mind.

When Blizzconline kicks off, players can likely expect quite a few announcements; especially since Blizzard has been relatively quiet about several of its upcoming projects.

We're expecting news (and maybe even release dates) for games like Diablo 4, Diablo Immortal, Overwatch 2, and perhaps a sneak-peek at World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' post-launch content.

Blizzconline 2021 will run from February 19-20, so it won't be a particularly lengthy event this time. For more details about how you can watch the event, as well as what content it might reveal, stay tuned to TechSpot over the coming months.