A former employee of Blizzard reports on the harsh cuts at Heroes of the Storm in December 2018. These were apparently necessary for Diablo 4 to still be shown at BlizzCon 2019. Blizzard had to react to the debacle with Diablo Immortal.
Where do the information come from? The major Korean gaming site Inven writes that it spoke with former Blizzard employees who wish to remain anonymous.
The former employees say: The end of the esports for “Heroes of the Storm” is directly related to Diablo 4 and BlizzCon 2018.
In December 2018, Blizzard practically canceled the esports for “Heroes of the Storm” and significantly reduced the developer team of the MOBA.
This announcement came as a surprise at the time and hit many esports players at Heroes of the Storm out of nowhere. Their careers ended suddenly – without much warning.
As we now learn: Even Blizzard employees had no idea what was coming their way.
BlizzCon 2019 had to deliver
What does Diablo 4 have to do with it? The former employees say that the pressure increased after BlizzCon 2018.
The reaction to the fact that there was no Diablo 4 but only the mobile game “Diablo Immortal” presented caused increasing pressure at Blizzard to deliver more at BlizzCon 2019. Thus, resources had to be redistributed – and it affected Heroes of the Storm.
Many of the best “live developers” from Blizzard worked in the HotS team but on a title that Blizzard did not attribute as much potential as a new Diablo game.
A former developer says:
“At that time we had a lot of projects in development that needed a lot of help. Especially Diablo 4 needed a lot, a lot of help to become what everyone saw at BlizzCon.
They had to show Diablo 4 at this BlizzCon, right? That was the plan and they had to ensure that it worked.
To be honest: most of the talent from the Heroes team then went to the Diablo 4 team. Some went to WoW because that also lives, breathes, and needs a lot of support.”
A former Blizzard developer speaks to Inven
What was going on with Heroes of the Storm? According to the former developers, Heroes of the Storm had been in a difficult state for some time:
- The MOBA constantly needed updates, which is why the team was always overwhelmed and overworked
- While other teams released a patch every 3 months, sat in the office and played – the team at Heroes of the Storm was constantly under pressure
- The employees would learn about the layoffs and the end of esports at the same time as the public: only a few were in the loop. Most expected that there would still be esports in HotS in 2019
- Because the team was under constant stress, some were even glad to leave the team – the development was not “sustainable” in that form
- Before December 2018, the team of “Heroes of the Storm” was one of the largest, maybe even the largest team on the Blizzard campus – and some of the “most talented live developers at Blizzard” worked there
- Some developers were put into teams of games they hadn’t even played before
The development of Heroes of the Storm continued after the cuts in 2018, although at a slower pace. The latest major hero for Heroes of the Storm will be Deathwing.
