Heroes of the Storm eulogy: For once, Blizzard couldn’t balance the casual and competitive

Heroes of the Storm isn’t dead. But it isn’t alive, either. Blizzard Entertainment’s announcement this week that it was ending Heroes esports entirely, shifting developers off the game, and “changing the cadence” of updates effectively stated that the game was shifting away from active development. The maudlin tone of the piece, even though it said the game was continuing development, made it fairly clear: Blizzard will support Heroes as it is for a while, but it’s halting its attempts to make it a hit.

There are several clues in that direction in the open letter. First, when it says it’s changing the cadence of hero releases, it’s worth noting that it’s been six weeks since Heroes’ last new addition, Orphea, with nothing new on the horizon — that’s the longest it’s been between new hero releases since early in its beta. Moreover, while the letter promises new content, it specifically doesn’t mention new maps — the thing that has separated Heroes from its competitors.