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Blizzard kills Heroes of the Storm esports, downsizes dev team

Blizzard is shifting developers of its MOBA to other projects, a move that officially kills Heroes of the Storm esports in 2019.

Ozzie Mejia

December 13, 2018 5:00 PM

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Heroes of the Storm continues to receive regular updates, with the most recent one going out just a few days ago. However, it's hard to deny that Blizzard's MOBA hasn't had quite the same notoriety as the publisher's other major games. With that said, it looks like Blizzard is cutting ties with Heroes of the Storm esports altogether while also shifting resources away from the game itself.

"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," reads the full statement from Blizzard President J. Allen Brack and Vice President Ray Gresko. "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 axing of the esports division comes alongside the announcement that a chunk of the Heroes of the Storm team is being shifted to other projects. This doesn't seem to bode well for Heroes of the Storm's future, with Brack and Gresko citing Blizzard's growing catalog of games in development, in addition to the continuing development of games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft. However, the two insist that this move is aiming towards Heroes' long-term future, indicating that Blizzard will continue to update the game with new content on a regular basis.

"Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard’s worlds and characters," reads the statement. "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."

While the official company position is that Heroes of the Storm will continue on for the foreseeable future, an announcement like this may have some of the game's fans taking pause. In particular, this announcement comes just weeks after former Blizzard CEO and President Mike Morhaime stepped down from his position and put the company in Brack's hands. That this sort of drastic announcement came so soon into Brack's tenure will almost certainly not instill confidence in the Heroes of the Storm fanbase, with most of r/heroesofthestorm already expecting eventual doom.

For what it's worth, the Heroes of the Storm team did outline what's next for 2019 at BlizzCon, even discussing future plans during a Shacknews interview. Whether the team's 2019 plans will still come to fruition, act as the game's last gasp, or prove that this announcement is just a bump in the road remains to be seen.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?