From Blizzard:
Prepare for an onslaught of undead horrors, zerg monstrosities, marauding demons, and wasteland warriors! Blizzard Entertainment today unveiled a hoard of brand-new game content that will be playable at the Blizzard booth at gamescom 2017 in Cologne, Germany. A “Blizzard at gamescom 2017—Preview” video is now live on www.youtube.com/blizzard , giving gamers around the globe a first look at everything the company will showcase at the leading European trade fair for digital gaming culture, which takes place from Tuesday, August 22 to Saturday, August 26.
In addition, at 18:00 CEST (9:00 a.m. PDT) on Wednesday, August 23, members of Blizzard’s game development teams will take the main stage at the Blizzard booth to dig deeper into the games and debut new cinematics and other content in the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony—viewable via live stream on Twitch and at http://gamescom.blizzard.com.
Throughout gamescom, visitors to the Blizzard booth in Hall 7 of the Koelnmesse will have the chance to enjoy playable content and activities for Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft II, StarCraft: Remastered, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and Diablo III.
Heroes of the Storm
The latest long-awaited Hero to join the Nexus—Kel’Thuzad, the Warcraftseries’ undead Lord of Naxxramas—will be playable for the first time. Additional details on Kel’Thuzad will be presented during the Blizzard Reveal ceremony on Wednesday, August 23.
Heroes of the Storm players at gamescom will get a glimpse at brand-new skins, including Death Knight Sonya, Dreadlord Jaina, and Crypt Queen Zagara.
Community personalities and pros will compete in live show matches on the main stage during the Heroes of the Storm: Showdown. Team Liquid and Team expert battle on Wednesday, August 23, and Germany’s popular YouTubers ApeCrime and PietSmiet duke it out on Friday, August 25—see the blog post for details.
StarCraft
Primal pack leader Dehaka, the newest Zerg co-op commander for StarCraft II, will be playable for the first time at the Blizzard booth.
Attendees at gamescom will also be able to play StarCraft: Remastered, Blizzard’s recently released modernization of the classic award-winning real-time strategy game and its Brood War expansion.
World of Warcraft
Gamers will be able to group up with other gamescom attendees and travel to Argus to run through a dungeon from World of Warcraft’s upcoming Patch 7.3. Details about this content update will be unveiled during the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday, August 23.
Twelve top-ranked Arena teams will battle it out in the WoW European Championship Finals on the World of Warcraft stage from Wednesday to Saturday for a share of the $100,000 USD prize pool and the chance to compete in the WoW Arena World Championship Finals at BlizzCon later this year—see the blog post for details.
Visitors to the Blizzard booth will be able to attend a live Darkmoon Faire, which will include activities like an airbrush makeup station and photo opportunities with iconic WoW statues and items.
Hearthstone
Hearthstone players can enjoy an early look at new Fireside Gathering features during gamescom, where they’ll join forces in a whole new kind of Fireside Brawl: a group raid against the Lich King.
We’ll find out which country’s card-slingers will rise above the rest as the Hearthstone Global Games Finals play out live on the Hearthstone stage on Friday and Saturday, August 25 and 26—see the blog post for details.
To celebrate the latest Hearthstone expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne, gamers in Cologne will be able to grab a frozen treat and participate in activities at the gamescom city festival—where the Hearthstone traveling ice cream truck will be making its final European stop on the Ice Cream Citadel tour on August 25 and 26 from 15:00–23:00 CEST.
Overwatch
For the first time, visitors to the Blizzard booth will be able to play an all-new Overwatch map, Junkertown—a shut-down omnium now ruled by the Junker faction, and former home of Roadhog and Junkrat. Watch the just-released “Junkertown: The Plan” video to catch up on the duo’s hijinks, and learn more in our map preview video.
The world premiere of a new Overwatch animated short will take place on the main stage and via live stream during the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday, August 23.
Diablo III
Attendees at gamescom will be able to command legions of the risen dead and wield the dark arts with Diablo III’s Rise of the Necromancer pack, playable at the Blizzard booth on PC and PlayStation 4.
In addition to these games and activities, gamescom attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of live entertainment on Blizzard’s main stage, including crowd-favorite dance and cosplay contests, showmatches, developer signing sessions, quizzes, and much more. Video Games Live will be performing on Thursday, August 24 and Friday, August 25 at 18:00 CEST (9:00 a.m. PDT). A full schedule of activities can be found here.
Visitors can also pick up a selection of Blizzard merchandise, including some brand-new and convention-exclusive items, at the Blizzard store in Hall 5—see the blog post for details.
Those who can’t make it to gamescom 2017 in person will still be able to catch all the excitement via daily live streams on the Blizzard gamescom website. Well-known streamers will also bring their viewers live action from the Blizzard booth—visit the site for details.
For more information about Blizzard at gamescom 2017, visit http://gamescom.blizzard.com, and follow our social media channels for the latest news live from the event.
