Blizzard announces Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct, teases that you won't want to miss 'a single surprise'

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WoW: The War Within
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Blizzard has announced Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct, a livestream "special presentation celebrating 30 years of Warcraft and a look ahead at what’s next." The stream will apparently nod to everything from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans to the recent Warcraft Rumble, with both Hearthstone and World of Warcraft also featured.

Blizzard promises "something for everyone" but the most notable aspect of the announcement is the line "you won’t want to miss a moment— or a single surprise." Surprises! Obviously any expectations for World of Warcraft 2 should be tempered, and it may well be that Blizzard's just going to announce a Hearthstone expansion or something, but you'd hope it has something substantial planned for the 30th anniversary of the series that really made the company.

Following the stream there will also be a special concert broadcast celebrating two decades of Blizzard's flagship MMO: "World of Warcraft: 20 Years of Music". The description for this is a little confusing but it appears to be a pre-recorded live performance, filmed in Switzerland with the 21st Century Orchestra and featuring three choirs—Tale of Fantasy, Ardito, and the Madrijazz Gospel. "This sweeping 190 performer ensemble will take you on a musical adventure through time and emotion," says Blizzard.

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Players will earn in-game rewards for Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble, and World of Warcraft for watching. The Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct will go out on November 13 at 10am PT / 6pm GMT on Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.

World of Warcraft’s just received a new expansion, The War Within, which our own Tyler Colp reckons is the best campaign the game's ever had. This marked the start of the Worldsoul Saga, a story that will unfold over three expansions—which is the first time Blizzard's ever planned so far ahead (in public, at least).

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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