After three years of supporting the game, Blizzard has decided to scale back the development team for Heroes of the Storm. The multiplayer arena battle arena game has never enjoyed the same popularity as StarCraft II or Diablo II but has retained a dedicated following regardless. Apparently, this wasn’t enough for Blizzard, who have decided to recommit their team members to other projects.
The company released a lengthy statement on their website, explaining why they’ve scaled back development on future content:
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 this, the team insists that they will continue to support the game with new content, “but the cadence will change”. They hope to set the game up “for long-term sustainability”.
But scaling back development on Heroes of the Storm isn’t the only thing that Blizzard has done. They have also canceled all Heroes of the Storm e-sports events for 2019.
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 letter thanked all the fans for enjoying and supporting the game. It was signed off in the end by J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko, President of Blizzard and Chief Development Officer respectively.
It’s unfortunate, but it seems the future of Heroes of the Storm hangs in the balance.
What are your thoughts on Blizzard’s decision to lighten focus on Heroes of the Storm? Let us know in the comments below!
