The professional players of Heroes of the Storm are angry at Blizzard. Many professional players and also casters have basically lost their income overnight.
On Friday we reported that Heroes of the Storm has pulled some developers away to work on other projects in the future. As a result, updates and content will appear at a “different frequency” – likely significantly less often.
At the same time, Blizzard canceled two of the biggest eSports tournaments of Heroes of the Storm. Especially the cancellation of the HGC (Heroes Global Championship) poses massive problems for many players.
Why are the professional players disappointed? The professional players of Heroes of the Storm received the news just as spontaneously as all other fans.
There were no indications beforehand that the upcoming tournaments would be canceled. They are frustrated to have learned from a blog post that their existence as eSports athletes or casters is now at risk.
What is particularly annoying is that there were essentially already “qualifications” for the HGC, such as the Crucible tournament. Many players were excited to have finally completed their qualifications after years of practicing and now find themselves in a game without a functioning eSports scene.
Blizzard assured at BlizzCon about its continued existence: Players like Kala, who expresses his displeasure in a stream and on YouTube, are particularly angry. He and others feel deceived by Blizzard because, even at BlizzCon, employees apparently told them that the HGC would take place in 2019 “without major changes”.
Can you understand the frustration of the professional players? Or is it a logical step to pull developers away when a project is no longer running? What would you do in the place of the professional players?
Running an esports league is also associated with larger prize pools and, of course, contracts with corresponding sponsors.
How many are still working on Heroes of the Storm? There has been little response from the developers in the meantime. Although it has already been said on Reddit that they want to share new information with all players in the coming days and assured that they are more than just a “skeleton team”.
A skeleton team or core team only takes care of keeping the game running but does not create new content. This would not be the case with Heroes of the Storm.
Is the executive change to blame? Since the professional players also assumed at BlizzCon that the tournaments would continue, many players suspect that this has to do with the executive change at Blizzard.
It is rumored that Activision is increasingly taking influence and that this has dramatic implications at Blizzard now. However, this has not been confirmed.
Can you understand the frustration of the professional players? Or is it a logical step to pull developers away when a project is no longer running? What would you do in the place of the professional players?
