Alcohol-Free Event?

Ah, yes, the huge band the majority of the conference attendees had to Google to figure out who they were. With HUGE album sales in the US of 45,000. They could hand out an album to each attendee at BlizzCon in the goody bag and essentially double the albums they have sold in the US. They are a fast growing Kpop band, but let’s not get crazy with calling them huge outside a specific niche fan base.

This is a North America based company catering to an event that is very much US centric. The in person audience skews male and likely millennials and up. Grabbing Blink 182 again like in 2013 would be a huge win and equally if not more relevant than this group.

This year it feels like they have a brand new person in charge of organizing the event with the direction of making streaming the focus (Opening Ceremony in one spot, the band choice, banning alcohol and the focus on streamers/content creators.). With the Opening Ceremony mess it feels like it’s their first time doing this too.

2 Likes

I wish i had known this before i bought my ticket. What a trash event. Also, it sucks that there is no AWC and the Guild Clash is streamong only. Really? I will not be back.

I don’t drink at home anymore and only do so on vacation. That being said, I cannot imagine going to a video game convention that doesn’t allow alcohol. It sounds terrible.

I was looking forward to sampling the ales like last time we went, still have the bottles!

Shame that the irresponsible behaviour of a few employees and con attendees has killed iff this aspect of the con for everyone.

Sharing the same sentiment. I don’t drink very often but I really enjoyed the themed beers from previous Blizzcons and was disappointed that this was missing this year.

After what happened at the DMF Saturday a beer would have gone down nice

Microsoft got word on the alcohol and shut that plan down effectively as soon as they heard about it. There were quite literally alot more staff to serve beverages than in the past and because they had been hired prior to the cancellation of alcohol there were staff that couldnt do much just standing around.

This is false. Microsoft had no involvement on this factor of BlizzCon

1 Like

Microsoft did not own Blizzard when the policy decision was made. It is against the law (heard that straight from an Activision employee while present) to do any work “as if the merger has or will happen.”

Microsoft was allowed almost zero part in the policies, practices, or execution of Blizzcon.

As for the topic itself, I could not possibly care less if there is alcohol at Blizzcon. If it makes others happy to have it, good on them. If it is too dangerous or more liability or whatever, I feel bad for those who want it but I understand.

Just my two cents.