HoS is "dead"?

[ekske1]

 

[Hamster]

These gaming companies are really out to make enemies.

 

[Temujin]

Moving them over to 'other teams'... diablo mobile

 

[Bryn]

All the big gaming companies have turned into or are turning into s**theads.

Rockstar - GTA Online and Red Dead Online with unforgivable Micahtransactions
Bethesda - trash quality Fallout 76 with microtransactions
Ubisoft - doing their best to move away from single-player experiences that don't require microtransactions
Blizzard - Hearthstone prices & drop rates are ridiculous. HotS abandoned. Diablo mobile crap with actual Diablo mostly abandoned.
EA - games being rushed out the door with intense microtransactions

The one shining light, in my opinion, is Sony. The PS4-exclusive games like Horizon, God of War, Spiderman, Uncharted 4 & Lost Legacy, The Last of Us etc. are so bloody good and don't bulls**t customers. You pay a premium price and you receive a premium experience, end of story. I really like that.

 

[copacetic]

Meanwhile, the founder of a F2P game apologises to the player base (and this happens regularly). Best game company / customer interaction in the business, I'd wager.

 

[Fulcrum29]

 

[Fulcrum29]

Interesting article published back in August,

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...nd-rise-again-of-heroes-of-the-storm-esports/

The rise and fall and rise again of Heroes of the Storm esports

James “Bakery” Baker no longer plays Heroes of the Storm competitively. Before retiring through injury, the 21-year old Brit was the captain and support player for Team Dignitas, widely regarded as one of the best teams in Europe – and even the world. From 2015 to 2017 he played a major role in many of the squad’s biggest tournament successes, collected more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of prize money, and has no doubt helped foster the game’s competitive scene.

With that wealth of experience, it makes him the perfect person to ask about the journey Heroes of the Storm esports has been on since Blizzard’s MOBA launched in 2015, and the current health of the game for professional players today. In such a crowded market, where it’s surrounded by rivals from all sides, is Heroes of the Storm a viable career choice for someone looking to get into esports? How successful has Blizzard’s approach to supporting the game been for all involved?

When we speak in June, Baker is at Dreamhack Summer in Sweden to watch his ex-teammates compete in the Mid-Season Brawl of this year’s Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC). It’s a fittingly titled tournament that serves as the halfway point of Heroes esports in 2018, as 12 of the world’s best teams are pitted against each other for the first time that season. And although Baker doesn’t play for Dignitas anymore, he’s still supporting the game in a new development role at the organisation – one that he says has him just as driven and inspired to grow and nurture the community further.

“As an organisation we love Heroes of the Storm and we all play it, so the bigger it is the better,” says Baker. “We’re always talking to Blizzard about feedback we have and they can come to us with ideas sometimes. We’re always working together with the team, with the orgs and also with Blizzard to try and make Heroes better.”

But just how much bigger and better does Heroes of the Storm need to be? A surprising statistic: during 2017 Blizzard offered the 4th most prize money in esports for Heroes of the Storm. That was more than the likes of Hearthstone, StarCraft 2 and Overwatch, as well as some major growing esports such as Rocket League, PUBG and Rainbow Six Siege. So, surely that’s a good sign, right?

“It’s not where everyone wants it to be,” admits Bakery. “You go outside at Dreamhack you see 15 million people playing Fortnite. And, yeah, maybe three people playing Heroes. I’d like more people playing it, more people talking about it and just more organisations in the space as well.”

While it’s true that Dreamhack is as packed to the brim with Fortnite players as a fully-loaded battle bus, Heroes of the Storm has still carved out its own arena in the convention hall for the Mid-Season Brawl. Fans are cheering their favourite teams, meme-worthy signs are being waved around, and there’s the constant pounding of thunder.

Continued

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...nd-rise-again-of-heroes-of-the-storm-esports/

Going by Sterling's assumption, he may very well be right. Blizzard execs didn't like where they were going in esports and then restructured. Their error being by excluding pros prior to the announcement than keeping them in the loop. I’m guessing that esports organisations may have known, it is more how their players reacted to the decision.

I must say though, esports and charity streaming. Fortnite is hitting it high and I believe that they are converting many pro players and viewers. Twitch, Mixer… all dominated by Fortnite. Even when your game is up at #6, the 5 games above you are hitting way larger viewer numbers.

Blizzard is likely to reinvest elsewhere, either strengthen a current esports title, developing a new one or both.

 

[ekske1]

All the big gaming companies have turned into or are turning into s**theads.

Rockstar - GTA Online and Red Dead Online with unforgivable Micahtransactions
Bethesda - trash quality Fallout 76 with microtransactions
Ubisoft - doing their best to move away from single-player experiences that don't require microtransactions
Blizzard - Hearthstone prices & drop rates are ridiculous. HotS abandoned. Diablo mobile crap with actual Diablo mostly abandoned.
EA - games being rushed out the door with intense microtransactions

The one shining light, in my opinion, is Sony. The PS4-exclusive games like Horizon, God of War, Spiderman, Uncharted 4 & Lost Legacy, The Last of Us etc. are so bloody good and don't bulls**t customers. You pay a premium price and you receive a premium experience, end of story. I really like that.

2018 has been the year of AAA failures; but aaa as we know it has been dying and dead for a while now.

I get more excited thinking about getting into retro gaming with a ps2 or replying some of the oldies than the next cod, bf, assassins creed, racing-, <insert>.

Getting back to HoS... I suppose its going to be sooner than later on nerd slayer's death of a game.

:edit
We need another "half-life" for gaming.

 

[Bryn]

2018 has been the year of AAA failures; but aaa as we know it has been dying and dead for a while now.

I get more excited thinking about getting into retro gaming with a ps2 or replying some of the oldies than the next cod, bf, assassins creed, racing-, <insert>.

Getting back to HoS... I suppose its going to be sooner than later on nerd slayer's death of a game.

:edit
We need another "half-life" for gaming.

There are still full-price releases that are immensely brilliant. God of War, RDR2 single player, Spiderman etc.

That said, if you're into retro games you might go mad for the remastered Spyro games and Cuphead. Both are so damn good.