BlizzCon 2026 has a schedule, and WoW gets ten sessions across two days
BlizzCon 2026 now has a running order. Blizzard published the schedule, stream plan and rewards detail on 1 September, eleven days out from the show on 12 and 13 September at the Anaheim Convention Center. The gap the original announcement left, whether any of it would be broadcast, is closed.
The WoW slots, both days
All times PDT, from Blizzard's own list, and all marked subject to change.
| Day | Time | Segment |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 12 Sep | 10:30 a.m. | Opening Ceremony |
| Sat 12 Sep | 12:00 p.m. | World of Warcraft: What's Next |
| Sat 12 Sep | 12:45 p.m. | MDI Grand Finals, first match |
| Sat 12 Sep | 2:00 p.m. | Building Cutscenes in World of Warcraft |
| Sat 12 Sep | 2:45 p.m. | World of Warcraft: What's Next II |
| Sat 12 Sep | 3:30 p.m. | Developers x Creators Showcase |
| Sat 12 Sep | 5:30 p.m. | MDI Grand Finals, championship match |
| Sun 13 Sep | 10:00 a.m. | World of Warcraft: Deep Dive |
| Sun 13 Sep | 10:45 a.m. | Crafting Coziness and Creative Freedom |
| Sun 13 Sep | 11:45 a.m. | World Building in World of Warcraft |
| Sun 13 Sep | 1:15 p.m. | World of Warcraft: Art Design |
| Sun 13 Sep | 2:45 p.m. | World of Warcraft: Design Deep Dive |
| Sun 13 Sep | 4:15 p.m. | World of Warcraft Hardcore: What's Next |
| Sun 13 Sep | 5:00 p.m. | AWC Grand Finals, championship match |
| Sun 13 Sep | 5:20 p.m. | Closing Remarks |
Our take: what it means for players
Two "What's Next" panels on the same afternoon is the shape worth reading. A single roadmap panel is a year plan; two back to back, with a cutscene panel wedged between them, reads as a roadmap split across a reveal and its detail, which is how a convention paces an announcement it wants to land twice.
The second signal is Hardcore getting its own forward-looking panel on day two, at 4:15 p.m., rather than a mention inside a broader session. Hardcore has been a mode with a following and no separate schedule presence, and a named "What's Next" slot is the smallest possible commitment to it and still a commitment. We will take it. A permadeath mode with no cash shop attached, given a stage of its own, is the genre remembering what it is good at.
The fine print is where our complaint sits, and it is stated plainly in Blizzard's own footnote. The streams cover the opening ceremony, major panels and esports; the musical performances are not part of that. Le Sserafim plays at 6:00 p.m. on day two and the trophy ceremony follows at 6:30, both in the hall. Rewards need a linked account, and anyone attending in person has until 18 September to link a BlizzCon Pass to a Battle.net account and still claim them.
That deadline is the bit that will cost somebody something. A linking window that closes five days after the show, published in a footnote, is the kind of clause that quietly separates people from a reward they already paid for. Put it on the ticket, not in the footnote.
What's next
Blizzard says the schedule updates after the opening ceremony, so the day two list is the one most likely to move. Both days, the two esports finals and the reward-linking deadline are on the calendar with the day we last checked each against Blizzard's page.
Common questions
What time does the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony start?
10:30 a.m. PDT on Saturday 12 September, which is 18:30 BST. Blizzard's own schedule lists it first on day one and marks all times as subject to change.
Can I watch BlizzCon 2026 from home for free?
Selected programming is streamed for everyone, including the opening ceremony, the major panels and the esports finals. Musical performances and some other segments are not streamed and are for people in the hall in Anaheim only.
When are the WoW panels at BlizzCon 2026?
Day one carries World of Warcraft: What's Next at 12:00 p.m. PDT, a cutscene panel and What's Next II in the afternoon, and a developers and creators showcase at 3:30 p.m. Day two carries the Deep Dive at 10:00 a.m., world building, art design, design deep dive, and Hardcore: What's Next at 4:15 p.m.
Written by 0hp from the publisher's own announcement, linked above, and every specific in it was checked against that page by a second pass before it published. Independent, and not affiliated with the publisher. Dates are announced or labelled as estimates. How this site is written, and how to correct it.
