Blizzard freezing out E3

To all those fantasizing about being able to play Diablo III and/or Starcraft II deep in the heart of a resurgent Electronic Entertainment Expo: Stop. Today, reps confirmed to GameSpot that, despite the presence of its parent corporation, Activision Blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment will not be present when the Los Angeles Convention Center opens its doors June 2-4.

"A lot of people saw Activision Blizzard listed on E3 and just assumed we were going, but that's not the case," a rep said, before confirming Activision Publishing would be there. Activision reps said it would indeed have a game-packed booth at the Expo, which will be greatly expanded from last year's stripped-down 5,000-person convention. The company did not say which games would be on display at said booth.

Blizzard's boycotting of E3 isn't that surprising, given that it skipped the confab for the past two years. However, it does underline the fact that, while bigger than the previous two year's gatherings, E3 2009 still won't be as huge as the 65,000-attendee-strong E3 2006, which the World of Warcraft publisher did participate in. On Monday, the ESA made much of the fact that "Activision Blizzard" would be on hand after boycotting the proceedings last year. Another 2008 no-show, LucasArts, will also be in attendance.

As for Blizzard's next public event, reps declined to say when, where, or if any gathering featuring the $100 million-per-month company will take place.