heroes No Heroes Esports in 2019

[Stan 5,240]

Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019.

Update #1: Production Director Kaéo Milker today talked about the future of Heroes of the Storm.

Bad news for Heroes Esports. J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko today announced that Blizzard's shifting developers from Heroes of the Storms to other projects. As a result, there will be no HGC or Heroes of the Dorm next year and we can expect less new content. They're setting up the game for long-term sustainability and they feel canceling the events is a "right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect." 

Blizzard (Source)

We’re constantly changing and evolving not only our games, but how we support and grow them. This evolution is vital to our ability to continue doing what we love to do—making great games—and it’s what makes Blizzard, Blizzard.

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.

Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard’s worlds and characters. We’ll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change. Ultimately, we’re setting up the game for long-term sustainability. We’re so grateful for the support the community has shown from the beginning, and the development team will continue to support Heroes with the same passion, dedication, and creativity that has made the game such a unique experience.

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.

While we don’t make these decisions lightly, we do look to the future excited about what the decisions will mean for our other live games and all the projects we have in the works. We appreciate all of our hard-working developers and everyone in the Blizzard community, and look forward to sharing many more epic gaming experiences with you in the future.

J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko

Here's also a post from the Heroes Esports team thanking the community for supporting HGC.

Blizzard (Source)

As you might have seen by now, the Heroes Global Championship will not return in 2019. 

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.

Sincerely,

The Heroes Esports Team

J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko announced there will be no HGC or Heroes of the Dorm in 2019.

[SleepySheepy 41]

TheQuarterning posted a video where developer stated HotS was a financial failure. We can see now that's true.
Given this, I doubt we can expect longevity of HotS.

OW is surrounded with negativity
Diablo is basically gutted
And now this to round up year. Blizzard part of Activision isn't doing that well, now is it?

 

[Plergoth 277]

It's both heartbreaking and infuriating to come back home tonight to see this news blowing up on reddit and twitter, along with all the utter disappointment, confusion and clear stress and hurt this has caused everybody from pros to the playerbase at large. 
 

 

[Kaelos 74]

Are they killing yet another game which I really like? So depressing

[Amit 17]

:(((((((((((( I don't want HotS to die off :((
Damn this garbage, ActiMoney can't do it right! T_T I blame them... Blizzard is having a creativity crisis u.u

[Brutalis 165]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Ultimately, we’re setting up the game for long-term sustainability.

That is NOT what you want to hear from a game dev.

[greatCraft 29]

Dear people in charge,

 

 

**** YOU. I HOPE YA'LL SUFFER.

 

ooh, this is a public forum. "Best wishes guys. Thanks for the memories."

[greatCraft 29]

Translation:

 

DO NOT invest into the pro scene, money, and emotions with Blizzard Entertainment, as they will pull the plug and give up when they are clearly not the leaders of the genre their product is competing in. Since it's not clear if they're the leaders of any genre, DO NOT invest into Blizzard Entertainment esport.

Edited December 14, 2018 by greatCraft

[Stan 5,240]

1 hour ago, Amit said:

:(((((((((((( I don't want HotS to die off :((
Damn this garbage, ActiMoney can't do it right! T_T I blame them... Blizzard is having a creativity crisis u.u

Why would the game die off without HGC? Sure, it may lose some prestige and competitive play, but that’s about it. It’s not like the servers are shutting down or anything. People are overreacting, just look at the mess over at r/heroesofthestorm. The vast majority of the playerbase does not even know about HGC. 

I feel genuinely sorry for the many casters and people involved in Heroes Esports.

[Ogerscherge 43]

5 minutes ago, Stan said:

Why would the game die off without HGC? Sure, it may lose some prestige, but that’s about it. It’s not like the servers are shutting down or anything. People are overreacting, just look at the mess over at r/heroesofthestorm. 

They also claim that they will remove developers from the game and thus slow down the cadence for new updates. To me it seems quite clear that they -especially the Activision part of them- aren't happy with how well the game does compared to its competition and therefore slowly working towards pulling the plug. So yes, the game will not be gutted officially, but without new content it will attract fewer new players, whilst most likely losing more and more old ones, eventually resulting in what could indeed be called the death of this game. 

The HGC part of this post is actually pretty harmless and probably not what disturbs the player base.

[Stan 5,240]

15 minutes ago, Ogerscherge said:

They also claim that they will remove developers from the game and thus slow down the cadence for new updates. To me it seems quite clear that they -especially the Activision part of them- aren't happy with how well the game does compared to its competition and therefore slowly working towards pulling the plug. So yes, the game will not be gutted officially, but without new content it will attract fewer new players, whilst most likely losing more and more old ones, eventually resulting in what could indeed be called the death of this game. 

The HGC part of this post is actually pretty harmless and probably not what disturbs the player base.

I agree that a change in cadence (release schedule) will result in less people playing the game. Only time will tell how this is going to affect the game in the long run. 

[Arcling 898]

17 minutes ago, Stan said:

I agree that a change in cadence (release schedule) will result in less people playing the game. Only time will tell how this is going to affect the game in the long run. 

It probably means we are going to see less new heroes and maps, at least there will be bigger gaps between releases. Instead of some releases, just smaller balance patches and bugfixes. Diablo 3 is basically done with, Starcraft 2 is now more or less in maintenance mode, since there are only skin packs (that you have to buy for money and then play the game to unlock them) and commanders for co-op (very rarely). I guess Starcraft 2 might be next after HotS, not immediately, at least these "war chests" appear to generate enough revenue to keep e-sports running, but that might not be enough in the long run, if they are now demanding something along the lines of Overwatch League.

Anyway, still going to play some HotS, as long as there is something being done with it. Just some random QM fun is enough for me.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Arcling

[Badadada 184]

I can name at least a dozen videogames that struggled to become a top e-sports title no matter how hard developers tried, but became casual heavens after they gave up on that ambition (some actually consider WoW such a game).
I've had my fair share of e-sports in my youth, so I know it may feel demotivating, but the world never needs more than 1 e-sports game per genre to weigh in on who's the best. HotS didn't make it to be that one moba game - but does this make it less enjoyable? Probably not, if fans stop thinking about themselves as potential future HotS world champions.

[darkinchworm 20]

2 hours ago, Brutalis said:

That is NOT what you want to hear from a game dev.

It definitely sounds like they're about to Diablo 3 the game. Which stinks, because... those are the only two games I play regularly. Heh.

[Undeath 67]

Rip in pepperonis, gaem.

[Steveson 193]

- We will shift some HOTS developers to other projects. This will not affect the game at all
- We are removing official tournaments

You know this situation is kind of similar to what happened to Valve's Team Fortress 2. But there is a difference - TF2 was popular and remains pretty popular (not as much as other games on Steam but still) to this day. HOTS while was received pretty well never got as popular as DOTA 2 or LoL. So it kinda figures that Blizzard are gonna pull the plug on it. Sad but true.
Also i think the order in which Blizzard will be doing the same thing to other IPs is going to be somewhat like this:
1 - Diablo 3 (ditto)
2 - HOTS (Already happening)
3 - Starcraft 2 (Nobody plays it and right now the only new content we are getting are skins and coop commanders - mode nobody plays right now)
4 and 5 - World of Warcraft/Overwatch (nobody knows which one will survive longer)
6 - Hearthstone

Edited December 14, 2018 by Steveson

[SMOrcMan 76]

19 minutes ago, Steveson said:

- We will shift some HOTS developers to other projects. This will not affect the game at all
- We are removing official tournaments

You know this situation is kind of similar to what happened to Valve's Team Fortress 2. But there is a difference - TF2 was popular and remains pretty popular (not as much as other games on Steam but still) to this day. HOTS while was received pretty well never got as popular as DOTA 2 or LoL. So it kinda figures that Blizzard are gonna pull the plug on it. Sad but true.
Also i think the order in which Blizzard will be doing the same thing to other IPs is going to be somewhat like this:
1 - Diablo 3 (ditto)
2 - HOTS (Already happening)
3 - Starcraft 2 (Nobody plays it and right now the only new content we are getting are skins and coop commanders - mode nobody plays right now)
4 and 5 - World of Warcraft/Overwatch (nobody knows which one will survive longer)
6 - Hearthstone

I think WoW is going to get plug pulled before OW. WoW takes a lot more to keep going and to develop new stuff for.

[Steveson 193]

18 minutes ago, SMOrcMan said:

I think WoW is going to get plug pulled before OW. WoW takes a lot more to keep going and to develop new stuff for.

Not sure. Overwatch is also currently loosing it's playerbase. But not as rapidly as WoW yeah. Still there is also WoW Classic incoming. If it fails too - WoW is pretty much screwed.

[Ylothrian 14]

Much like Diablo HOTS will not die

Spoiler

It will go mobile!

Spoiler

You better have phones

Please no

 

[Steveson 193]

23 minutes ago, Ylothrian said:

Much like Diablo HOTS will not die

It will be IMMORTAL

...too soon?

[VaraTreledees 138]

This is a really shitty think to do.  Oh well.  While I don't think HotS is 100% guaranteed to die, I think there is a high likelihood.  Less content means less people, which means less money and profitability, which means less development time, money and people (as in game devs and such) which leads to less content, which in turn leads to less people, which. . . you get the idea.

[Dejo93 1,023]

7 hours ago, SleepySheepy said:

TheQuarterning posted a video where developer stated HotS was a financial failure. We can see now that's true.
Given this, I doubt we can expect longevity of HotS.

OW is surrounded with negativity
Diablo is basically gutted
And now this to round up year. Blizzard part of Activision isn't doing that well, now is it?

 

Damn shame. It was the only MOBA I enjoyed.I'd be sadder if they started returning money and shutting it down completely

[Steveson 193]

26 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Damn shame. It was the only MOBA I enjoyed

Same. I've tried DOTA 2, LoL, SMITE and few other lesser known titles - dumped every single one after 1-2 hours of play. HOTS however turned out to be perfect for me. And now we have THIS.
Press F to pay respects

[Kuarinofu 78]

HotS never worked as an e-sport in my opinion. I rarely found it spectacular and it never felt complicated enough with interesting mechanics to provide for interesting plays. Most of the competitive games I've seen were won by picks. You can really tell in the beginning of the match which team will probably win. There were times when much stronger teams could've won with awkward strats but not that often. Many maps work in a way when only the very last team fight matters. So, pretty much all "interesting" moments are usually either a team will be able to kill the core in time after the last team fight or not. Many maps are also very limited and provide for little options overall.

 

Moreso, I think competitive HotS sometimes even hurt the game. I was Master in Season one (rank 1 in Preseason kek)  and now I'm Plat 1 both TL and HL. I can't say I got worse with the game, but the game decided to put me in that rank and there's not much I can do about it. Borderline Plat/Diamond games are often very affected pick-wise by competitive games. And most of the time this really sucks in HL. People pick niche heroes that work only in certain comps on certain maps played by certain people and ruin games. And I'm not talking about meta or best winrate picks, those usually work just fine.

 

And one more thing, while I don't really care about HGC dying, I think this is the first of many steps down the hill. The less attention, devs and money the game will receive - the worse the overall experience will be.

[taff 5]

The fun part is that it is the same company that declined IceFrog, when he was available and then started copyright wars with Valve. Karma?