What’s next for World of Warcraft in 20 years?

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

Game fans have been meeting online in Anaheim, California every year since 2005 for the BlizzCon convention.

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

But game maker Activision Blizzard has announced the cancellation of the 2024 edition of the famous event.

Disappointed fans were assured that the event would happen again in the future, but instead promised a series of smaller events without saying when.

There is speculation among gamers about what the Xbox owner might do with its newly acquired games, including well-known franchises Call of Duty and Candy Crush.

Much of the discussion has centered on whether Microsoft will bring some of its new titles to Game Pass, the Netflix-style subscription service seen as an increasingly important part of its gaming business.

These issues reportedly had a major impact on Activision Blizzard’s staff, and the developer also halted work on the survival game project commonly known as Odyssey.

But when BBC Newsbeat spoke to two of World of Warcraft’s top bosses earlier this month – and ahead of the BlizzCon announcement – they insisted they weren’t expecting any major changes to the franchise.

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

He said he sees the integration deal as a positive thing for players because it allows the Warcraft team to share ideas with other Microsoft-owned studios.

Holley called it a “very rare feature” and said he’s already had conversations with the teams behind Minecraft and The Elder Scrolls role-playing games to see how they could learn from each other.

When asked if this could mean a crossover between the franchises in the future, he told Newsbeat: “I have nothing to announce at the moment. We are all hopeful. Who knows? It’s still early.”

However, he said some changes inspired by other studios have already made their way into Warcraft.

An example of this is a new setting that allows players with severe arachnophobia to remove the eight-legged creature that plays a large role in the world from the game.

Holly said this particular feature comes from games like Grounded – a co-op survival adventure from Microsoft Studio Obsidian.

Activision’s purchase of Blizzard also boosted Microsoft’s financial results. As revealed last week, the gaming division saw a significant increase in sales, driven largely by purchases.

But Xbox console sales fell 31% year over year.

Gaming boss Phil Spencer emphasized that Microsoft is not returning to consoles, but that the company is expanding its multiplatform strategy by releasing games previously exclusive to other companies’ consoles.

Holley told Newsbeat that he believes World of Warcraft — which isn’t currently available on consoles — can play a role in that 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 World of Warcraft with everyone worldwide.”

In recent years, the game has added new gameplay options that appeal more to casual gamers who don’t want to spend hours improving their characters or fighting other players.

But the biggest obstacle to attracting new players is the reputation of some online games for toxic language and behavior.

This doesn’t just happen in World of Warcraft. Maria Hamilton, the game’s deputy design director, told Newsbeat that Blizzard has done everything it can to fix the problem, but it likely won’t get rid of it completely.

“Every online experience carries the risk of meeting someone who’s having a bad day,” he said.

“We have good reporting and good procedures for monitoring problem and toxic gamblers.”

Representation is a big issue in the gaming industry right now, and World of Warcraft has previously been criticized for characters that some players see as racist or antisocial.

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

“Some of our characters’ races may not look very good from today’s perspective.”

Maria said she hopes some of the more problematic examples from the game’s past can be removed, but says the company is trying to avoid a repeat by bringing in an outside diversity consultant.

Compared to the launch of Warcraft 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 for the next 20 years of World of Warcraft.

“We have some great ideas coming our way,” Holly said.

“As part of Microsoft, we believe there are limitless possibilities ahead of us.”

But there won’t be an annual convention of games this year.