Naturally, Diablo players have responded in the traditional manner: by assuming Blizzard is hiding something.
That may sound like ordinary pre-BlizzCon conspiracy hunting, but there is an important difference this time. Blizzard has explicitly said the current schedule is not necessarily the final schedule. Its official convention guide tells visitors to check again after the Opening Ceremony for the full updated program, while several areas of the BlizzCon floor map are also being deliberately kept under wraps until September 12.
So “Immortal Event” could genuinely mean a very large Diablo Immortal experience.
It could also be camouflage.
What Exactly Is the “Immortal Event”?
The official BlizzCon schedule currently lists the Diablo Stage in Hall B alongside the convention's Main Stage, Warcraft Stage, Hearthstone Stage and Classic Cup Stage. Instead of breaking the Diablo Stage into smaller sessions, however, Blizzard simply places a massive Immortal Event block across it.
There is no normal session description explaining what happens during those hours.
That stands out because other stages are considerably more specific. Warcraft gets developer showcases and esports. Hearthstone gets its World Championship and What's Next panel. The Classic Cup Stage lists individual Heroes of the Storm, Warcraft III and legacy-game sessions.
Diablo apparently gets:
Immortal Event.
For hours.
It sounds less like programming and more like something Deckard Cain might warn you not to touch.
It Could Really Be a Huge Diablo Immortal Event
The boring explanation should not be discarded simply because it is boring.
Blizzard's official BlizzCon information specifically confirms that Diablo Immortal will have hands-on gameplay on the show floor. The game remains one of Blizzard's actively developed titles, receives major updates throughout the year and supports the sort of live competitive activities that can comfortably occupy a convention stage for long periods.
Bout of Realms is an obvious candidate. The high-end PvP tournament is active again right now, and we recently looked at the continuing argument over whether Bout of Realms should offer fairer competition for lower-Resonance teams. A live competition, developer demonstrations, community matches and hands-on sessions could easily consume several hours without requiring any secret announcement at all.
Diablo Immortal also has a major engine update arriving in September, which gives Blizzard another entirely legitimate reason to devote convention space to the game.
So yes: perhaps Blizzard simply means Diablo Immortal.
That would be wonderfully straightforward.
Except Blizzard Says the Schedule Will Change After Opening Ceremony
Then Blizzard makes the situation unnecessarily suspicious.
Its official Know Before You Go guide says that programming is subject to change and specifically instructs fans to return after the Opening Ceremony to see the full updated schedule.
The same guide reveals that the currently published floor map is deliberately incomplete. Blizzard says a few areas remain “under wraps” and will only be revealed after the Opening Ceremony.
That means we know, before BlizzCon even begins, that Blizzard is withholding part of the convention.
Which immediately changes the way an enormous generically named schedule block looks.
Diablo Has Several Announcements That Could Be Hiding There
There is certainly no shortage of candidates.
Diablo IV already has its own dedicated What's Next presentation on September 13, and Blizzard deliberately kept parts of Season 15 out of the PTR specifically because it wanted to reveal more at BlizzCon. We broke down that unusually loaded schedule in our guide to Diablo IV's major BlizzCon panels.
Diablo II: Resurrected is considerably stranger. Despite receiving its first new class in roughly 25 years through Reign of the Warlock, D2R currently has no dedicated BlizzCon session.
And today we found another clue: a newer unreleased Diablo II build has appeared in Blizzard's restricted testing pipeline. That does not prove another PTR is imminent, but something is clearly still being worked on behind the scenes.
Then there is the original Diablo.
A newly created BlizzCon Twitch badge is attached specifically to the Diablo category rather than Diablo IV, adding another piece to the increasingly interesting Diablo 1 remaster speculation surrounding the franchise's 30th anniversary.
None of those things proves that the Immortal Event block is hiding them.
But Blizzard has certainly provided enough ingredients for the internet to construct a respectable corkboard.
The Diablo Developer Update May Explain Everything First
There is another important piece of the schedule.
Saturday's Main Stage includes a 45-minute Diablo: Developer Update. Crucially, Blizzard did not call it Diablo IV: Developer Update. The franchise-wide branding leaves room for Diablo IV, Diablo Immortal, Diablo II and potentially the original game.
That presentation follows the Opening Ceremony, precisely when Blizzard says the hidden portions of the schedule and floor map will become visible.
The sequence could therefore be very simple:
Opening Ceremony reveals the announcements.
The schedule updates.
“Immortal Event” suddenly becomes several named Diablo activities.
Everyone who spent the previous ten days analyzing a placeholder quietly pretends this was the plan all along.
Or Blizzard Really Has Planned Hours of Diablo Immortal
We should also acknowledge the funniest possible outcome.
BlizzCon arrives.
The Opening Ceremony ends.
The schedule refreshes.
And the mysterious block still says Immortal Event.
Because Blizzard actually planned an enormous Diablo Immortal event and the community spent a week hiding Diablo 1 remasters, Act 6 and another expansion inside it.
That is entirely possible.
For now, the important facts are considerably less dramatic: BlizzCon's current Diablo Stage schedule contains a huge, unusually vague Immortal Event block, and Blizzard has officially confirmed that both the schedule and convention map will reveal additional information after the Opening Ceremony.
Whether those two facts are connected is speculation.
We find out September 12.
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