What awaits World of Warcraft in 20 years?

World of Warcraft is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, but it just canceled its biggest party yet.

Fans of the online game have been gathering in Anaheim, California for BlizzCon every year since 2005.

The convention was a place to meet fans of the series, don your best cosplay, and get a first look at what’s to come in the vast fantasy world of Azeroth.

But game maker Activision Blizzard has announced that the 2024 edition of the popular event has been cancelled.

Disappointed fans are confident the event will return in the future, but have not said when, instead promising a series of smaller-scale events.

There has been speculation among gamers as to what the Xbox owner might do with the titles it owns, which also include household franchises Call of Duty and Candy Crush.

Much of the talk has been about Microsoft bringing some of its new titles to Game Pass — its Netflix-style subscription service that seems to be an increasingly important part of its gaming business.

These reportedly had a major impact on the Activision Blizzard staff, and the developer also canceled work on a survival game project known as Odyssey.

But when BBC Newsbeat spoke to two of World of Warcraft’s most senior executives earlier this month and ahead of the BlizzCon announcement, they insisted they don’t expect any major changes for the franchise.

Vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale said that “so far” the developer has had Microsoft’s “full support to do everything we need to deliver to the audience.”

He said he viewed the merger agreement as a positive for gamers because it allowed the Warcraft team to exchange ideas with other Microsoft-owned studios.

Describing it as a “very rare custom benefit,” Holley said he’s already in talks with the teams behind Minecraft and RPG The Elder Scrolls to see how they can learn from each other.

When asked if it could be a crossover between the franchises in the future, he told Newsbeat: “There’s nothing to announce at the moment. We’re all optimistic. Who knows? It’s early days.”

But he said some changes inspired by other studios have already found their way into Warcraft.

One example is a new setting that allows players with severe arachnophobia to remove eight-legged creatures that feature heavily in the world.

Holly said the special feature was brought over from games like Grounded – a co-op survival adventure from Microsoft studio Obsidian.

Acquiring Activision Blizzard also boosted Microsoft’s financial results. Its gaming division, published last week, saw a huge increase in revenue, largely driven by acquisitions.

But sales of its Xbox console fell 31% year-on-year.

Gaming chief Phil Spencer insisted that Microsoft is not turning its back on consoles, but the company is expanding its multi-platform strategy by releasing previously exclusive games on other companies’ hardware.

Holley told Newsbeat that he believes World of Warcraft, which is currently unavailable on consoles, can play a role in this and wants to broaden the game’s appeal.

“We’re always looking for ways to expand our audience,” he said.

“Ultimately, this challenge will never end because we want to share the world of World of Warcraft with everyone.”

In recent years, the game has added new ways to attract more casual players who don’t want to spend hours customizing their characters or fighting other players.

But one of the biggest barriers to attracting new players is the reputation some online games have for toxic speech and behavior.

It’s not unique to World of Warcraft, and Maria Hamilton, the game’s associate design director, told Newsbeat that it’s something Blizzard is trying its best to do, but will probably never eliminate completely.

“Any online experience carries the risk of encountering someone having a bad day,” he said.

“We have good reporting and good ways to track down problem players, toxic players.”

Representation is a big topic in the gaming industry right now, and World of Warcraft has previously been criticized by some players for including characters deemed racist or misogynistic.

“I think the representation wasn’t always the best,” Maria told Newsbeat.

“The image of some of our character races may not be entirely beautiful in today’s lens.”

Maria said she wishes some of the more problematic examples could be erased from the game’s past, but she said the company is trying to avoid repeats by bringing in outside diversity consultants.

Compared to Warcraft’s launch 20 years ago, games are increasingly competing not only for our money, but also for our time and attention.

Holley said he sees streaming services like Netflix as a major competitor in 2024.

Despite the challenges ahead, both Holly and Maria said they are optimistic about the next 20 years of World of Warcraft.

“We have some pretty incredible ideas on the way,” says Holly.

“As part of Microsoft, we feel there is pretty limitless potential down the road.”

For this year, that won’t include the game’s annual convention.

Listen to Newsbeat to live weekdays at 12:45 and 5:45 p.m.—or listen here.