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

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

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

The convention was a place to meet other fans of the series, dress up in their best cosplay, and get a first look at what was to come in the massive fantasy world of Azeroth.

But game maker Activision Blizzard has announced that it has canceled the 2024 edition of the popular event.

Disappointed fans were assured that the event would return in the future, but did not say when and promised a series of smaller-scale events.

Among gamers, there has been speculation about what the Xbox owner could do with its newly acquired titles, which also include well-known franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush.

Most of the talk revolved around whether Microsoft would bring some of its new titles to Game Pass – its Netflix-style subscription service seen as an increasingly important part of its gaming business.

This has been reported to have largely affected the team at Activision Blizzard, and the developer has also canceled work on a widely known survival game project as Odyssey.

But when BBC Newsbeat spoke to two of World of Warcraft’s most senior bosses earlier this month – and ahead of the BlizzCon announcement – they insisted they weren’t expecting any major changes for 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 have to deliver to our audience.”

She said she saw the merger deal as a positive for players because it allowed the Warcraft team to exchange ideas with other Microsoft-owned studios.

Describing this as a “very rare special benefit”, Holly said she has already spoken to teams behind Minecraft and RPG The Elder Scrolls to find out how they can learn from each other.

When asked if this could mean a crossover between the franchises in the future, she told Newsbeat: “I have nothing to announce right now. We’re all optimistic. Who knows? It’s still early days.”

But she said some changes inspired by other studios have already made their way to Warcraft.

One example is a new scenario that allows players with severe arachnophobia to remove eight-legged creatures – which feature heavily in the world – from the game.

Holly said this particular feature was brought over from games like Grounded – a co-op survival adventure from Microsoft’s Obsidian studio.

The purchase of Activision Blizzard also boosted Microsoft’s financial results. Published last week, its gaming division reported a huge increase in revenue, driven mainly by purchasing.

But Xbox console sales fell 31% year over year.

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

Holly told Newsbeat she believes World of Warcraft – which is currently not available on consoles – could play a role in this and wants to broaden the game’s appeal.

“We are always looking for ways to expand our audience,” she said.

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

In recent years, the game has added new ways to play that appeal to more casual players who don’t want to spend hours leveling up their characters or don’t want to fight 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 exclusive to World of Warcraft, and the game’s associate director of design, Maria Hamilton, told Newsbeat that it was something Blizzard was trying its best to resolve, but will likely never completely eliminate.

“Any online experience runs the risk of encountering someone who is having a bad day,” she said.

“We have good reports and good methods of observing problem players, toxic players.”

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

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

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

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

Compared to the release of Warcraft 20 years ago, games are increasingly competing not just for our money, but also for our time and attention.

Holly said she sees streaming services like Netflix as a major competitor in 2024.

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

“We have some amazing ideas on the way,” said Holly.

“As part of Microsoft, we feel there is unlimited potential on the horizon.”

For this year, however, that will not include the game’s annual convention.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45pm and 5:45pm weekdays – or listen here.