HotS developers will create new games that Activision insists on.
Blizzard has reduced the MOBA Heroes of the Storm development team. Some of the developers have been transferred to new projects, according to the company’s press release.
What will become of the game?
- New heroes, events and other content for Heroes of the Storm will appear less frequently than before.
- The Heroes of the Storm esports program has been canceled. The Heroes Global Championship 2019 and the Heroes of the Dorm University League have been canceled.
How did Blizzard management explain these changes?
Blizzard President Jay Allen Brack and Vice President Ray Gresko reported that a record number of projects are currently in simultaneous development. They are the company’s priority. To implement some of them, the skills and experience of Heroes of the Storm developers were needed.
We found ourselves in a situation where we need to take some of our talented developers and transfer them to other projects. As a result, we made a difficult decision to transfer part of the Heroes of the Storm developers. This is not the first time we are faced with a difficult choice. Games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Overwatch and others wouldn't exist if we hadn't made similar decisions in the past.
How else can these changes be explained?
According to the editor—in-chief of the Kotaku portal Jason Schreir, the reduction of the Heroes of the Storm team is a consequence of Activision’s pressure on the company.
As I’ve reported, Blizzard has been told to cut costs and ship more games. (https://kotaku.com/the-past-present-and-future-of-diablo-1830593195 …). So today’s news on Heroes of the Storm, which is scaling down/losing developers, makes a lot of sense. It’s been Blizzard’s least successful game by far: https://t.co/XtkI3V6A8L
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) December 14, 2018“Today’s news about the reduction of the Heroes of the Storm team is quite natural.
It’s Blizzard’s least successful game right now,” he says.
In a recent investigation into the situation at Blizzard, Schreier argued that the company was gradually losing its autonomy. Activision demands more and more profitable hits from her and forces her to cut costs as much as possible. New orders in Blizzard could be the reason for the resignation of its founder Michael Morheim from the post of president.
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