After years of uncertainty and controversy, gaming giant Blizzard Entertainment brought back its annual fan convention this weekend in Anaheim, California for the first time since 2019.
“Four years is a long time for us not to have a BlizzCon, and across our teams and the players, the excitement is incredible to see,” says Blizzard president Mike Ybarra. “You could feel it from the teams saying how awesome it was to be close to the players and it gave them a good reminder of the hard work they put in.”
The pandemic forced BlizzCon’s cancellation in 2020. It remained dormant in 2021 and 2022 after a flurry of lawsuits related to sexual harassment and gender discrimination hitBut now, the acquisition has cleared U.S. and UK regulatory hurdles, and Activision Blizzard has settled many of its legal challenges for tens of millions of dollars.
“We have discussions about how Xbox could help accelerate and help us achieve even more ambition than we have now. It’s been a two-year journey of ups and downs. I can't tell what the future looks like going forward, but what I can say is the ambition that we have is going to keep a lot of people busy for a long time.”Scott Tong joined Here & Now as a co-host in July 2021 after spending 16 years at Marketplace as Shanghai bureau chief and senior correspondent.