Not unlike the hardworking parent who regrettably has to break the news to their adoring children that this year, with so many important things going on at work, they won't be able to take the kids to Disneyland like they'd done every year prior, Blizzard today tried to very gently break it to the company's most enthusiastic fans that no, there won't be a BlizzCon in 2012.

The reason? It's apparently as simple as there just being too much stuff going on with the company these days. In addition to the (eventual) releases of Diablo III, the World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria, and Starcraft II expansion Heart of the Swarm in 2012, the company also announced that it plans to hold a competitive gaming event it calls the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, an event that it describes as "a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world" that will feature competition in both Starcraft II (naturally) and World of Warcraft's Arena battles. That event will take place somewhere in the rather large continent of Asia in 2012. For those taking bets on where, put me down for a sawbuck on South Korea.

Amusingly, most of Blizzard's announcement focused on the Battle.net World Championship and the many, many titles Blizzard plans to release this year, as if to try and soften the blow to any die-hard fans who were eagerly anticipating the opportunity to finally have that ridiculous Pandaren costume they've been trotting around for the last few years really mean something. It's like the aforementioned parent trying to salve the wounds of their heartbroken brood by telling them they'll get a couple of extra presents once their birthday rolls around, and maybe they'll take them to a baseball game one of these days...in Asia.

Blizzard plans to release more info on both the Battle.net World Championships and the 2013 rendition of BlizzCon "in the months ahead."