Blizzard has put a stop to the esports leg of one of its most ambitious project. The Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019. This comes as the developer took a lot of time to announce details of this year’s tournaments. The community was already contemplating such a decision.
Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and chief development officer Ray Gresko said that they are moving developers from HOTS to other games.
Over the past several years, the work of evaluating our development processes and making hard decisions has led to new games and other products that we’re proud of. We now have more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make tough choices like this. Games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Overwatch, and more would not exist had we not made similar decisions in the past.
This was obviously a difficult decision for a developer which is well-known for pulling all stops to support their games. Over the years, Heroes of the Storm never really saw the same kind of success that some of the other Blizzard games have seen. The game was aimed at providing a unique and different take to MOBA’s. Some of the basics of the game were quite different from other MOBA’s in the genre such as Dota 2 and League of Legends.
Long-Term Stability
The game is under development for Long-term stability. The developers still working on the game will be adding new features and heroes to the game on a consistent basis. However, as we can see this is just a way of sugarcoating the real news to the players and esports fans. It is indeed a sad day for the small group of die-hard HOTS fans. They will not be able to experience the intense matches between some of the top teams in HOTS.
We’ve also evaluated our plans around Heroes esports—after looking at all of our priorities and options in light of the change with the game, the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019. This was another very difficult decision for us to make. The love that the community has for these programs is deeply felt by everyone who works on them, but we ultimately feel this is the right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect.
The HOTS Esports site has a letter for the fans.
The Letter encompasses a similar sentiment as on the Blizzard webpage. Many of the HOTS fans who made the community as strong and passionate as it is today. However, the game did not have a similar level of mass-appeal as other Blizzard games. It probably did not make financial sense for the game to continue its esports scene. Blizzard will, however, still continue to support the game and its development.
It has been an incredible journey for the HGC, and we are eternally grateful to everyone who has touched the program. This was a tough decision for all of us, but one we agree is the right decision in light of the change with the game and our desire to only deliver the best competitive experiences with all of our esports programs.
The HGC has been proud to claim some of the most skilled players, entertaining casters, hard-working crew, professional teams, and dedicated staff in the business, and we can’t wait to see what this explosion of talent into the wider esports ecosystem will produce.
To the HGC supporters, thank you. Thank you for every piece of feedback you provided, HGC Cheer you cheered, and—most of all—every ounce of your passion. We felt it every day, back at the office and alongside you at each and every live event. The HGC could not have happened without all of your support.
Heroes of the Strom
Heroes of the Storm is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and macOS, which released on June 2, 2015. The game was a successor to a Starcraft custom map.
The game features heroes from Blizzard’s franchises including Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, The Lost Vikings, and Overwatch. With time, we do hope that the game gains enough popularity for the esports scene to make a comeback. However, in the current state of things, it seems highly unlikely.
