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No, Blizzard is not preparing a Hearthstone 2 announcement for BlizzCon 2026, I’ve been told, but there is something significant being announced later this year.
The company aroused suspicion for a sequel during a Hearthstone broadcast this afternoon, while announcing a Cataclysm-themed expansion for the World of Warcraft card game. The company teased that a major announcement was coming at BlizzCon 2026 in September, and for something bigger than usual.
I watched this ‘spotlight’ broadcast at Blizzard headquarters, just over a week ago, so I was able to quiz the team afterwards about it. I asked executive producer Nathan Lyons-Smith whether we were talking about something as significant as a sequel, and he put me straight.
“No, this is not a Hearthstone 2,” Lyons-Smith told me. “There’s no whole new game that is launching as part of that. Over the years we’ve done mixes, new types of content, new modes and such in the game, and it will be of that familiar ilk.”
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However, the BlizzCon 2026 announcement will still be especially notable. Familiar, yes, but “in a bigger way than we would normally do”,” Lyons-Smith said. “Bigger than what’s happening with Cataclysm.”
Cataclysm arrives for Hearthstone on 17th March and reimagines the World of Warcraft expansion of the same name. That means world-breaking dragon Deathwing is back, and he’s bringing some colossal pals with him. Literally colossal: Colossals are returning to the game.
These are mega-minions who, in the case of Magmaw, for instance, a giant lava worm, fills all available minion spaces with their wormy body, and keeps refilling them whenever any segments are killed. Magmaw has 99 minion recharges, so you can begin to see what kind of a problem that card represents. The other Colossals are similarly chonky.
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Cataclysm also brings new keywords, a new story, and powerful new abilities like Rewind that allow you to redo some plays. Also, on 10th March, one week before the expansion arrives, Blizzard will make every card from the recent Un’Goro and Emerald Dream expansions available to everyone for the duration of the Cataclysm expansion cycle, which is nice.
But Blizzard isn’t yet ready to bring Hearthstone to consoles or handheld devices like Switch or Steam Deck – not officially, anyway. Nevertheless, there’s a suggestion this is now more of a priority under Microsoft than it was under Activision before. Could we perhaps be in for a new platform announcement at BlizzCon?
