YUS.

I know what you’re thinking. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a little. Blizzcon 2017 was just announced a couple days ago. Tickets aren’t even on sale yet. Why would I even mention something as silly as the Saturday Blizzcon hosting gig?

Well, after last year’s fiasco, it probably wouldn’t hurt for Blizzard to start giving this a bit of early consideration. Assuming they haven’t already, of course. If they were smart, they would have started flipping through their rolladeck to see if there was anyone willing to return their calls before the body of Thomas Middleditch got cold after Blizzcon 2016.

You remember him, right? He’s the guy from the HBO TV show Silicon Valley that drew question marks when he stepped onstage at Blizzcon 2016. His schtick ticked all the boxes – he was a nerd, a gamer, a bit awkward. Someone that Blizzard fans were supposed to relate to. Unfortunately, his comedy routine fell flat, and the fans shat on him for it. I’m not going to say bullied, but he was ridden hard. He was smashed to the point that, not only did former host Jay Mohr tweet his support for Middleditch, but Thomas felt the need to defend himself on his Instagram.

The man knows a thing or two about being shit on by Blizzard fans.

So what’s the move then?  I had a couple of ideas in my post  that I made just after Blizzcon 2016, and I’ll just touch on them again here:

• Blizzard seems to like having some kind of celebrity in that hosting spot. Why? Is it to attract more people to buy the stream? Fine, but stop getting comedians. Or at least comedians who don’t play any Blizzard games, or aren’t familiar with the product. Do you really need someone to make jokes at the contestants of the dance or cosplay contests? Do you need someone to do five minutes of stand-up to warm up the crowd before the contests? If ever there was a crowd that was already filled with HYPE, it’s a Blizzcon crowd. They don’t need a warm up act to set the mood. So if you just want someone with some mainstream celebrity status to slap on ads, there’s plenty of celebrities who have admitted that they play WoW – Warcraft’s own Rob Kazinsky, Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill, Fast and Furious’s Vin Diesel and former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey. And that’s just for starters.
• Saturday’s hosting gig is mostly to cover competitions, so have a contest for the hosting gig! There is no shortage of people putting out video and audio content as it relates to Blizzard games – podcasts, Youtube channels, Twitch streams. Give them a chance to compete to star on the biggest stage a Blizzard content creator can appear on – CENTER STAGE AT BLIZZCON, BABY!

There are about 230 days before Blizzcon 2017. It probably wouldn’t hurt to start looking now. I doubt Blizz will find a former host actively willing to volunteer for the gig. Why not change things up this year?

Fingers crossed, I’ll be there to see it unfold LIVE.

Do you have a favorite host from a past Blizzcon? Who do you think would be a good host for Blizzcon 2017?