To be clear: I get it. 2020 was an impossible year for everyone. It's not easy for most of us to get through our individual days, much less make some video games and then put on a two-day virtual event about them. I wouldn't expect Blizzard to have a ton of new and exciting stuff to show, and what its teams presented clearly took a lot of work that must have been done under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. That Blizzard President J. Allen Brack and the rest of the presenters managed to put on entire outfits appropriate for wearing outdoors is an achievement far greater than any I've attained this week.
Still, the keynote felt disappointing. Making these presentations in an empty room, one that's usually full of excited fans, felt awkward to watch. The week's leaks might've taken some of the air out of announcements, but even the announcements themselves were sparse and flat. Ending things with Metallica valiantly thrashing around in what looked like an expensive rec room is a nice throwback, but grasping at normalcy just made the whole thing feel less normal to me. I'm admittedly not much of a Blizzard fan, but I was really hoping for something to be excited about. Instead of being the brief reprieve I'd hoped for, I just felt kinda sad.
