Heroes of the Storm could be facing a crucial point in its life. Blizzard Entertainment gave its multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) a 2.0 reboot last week, and it touted a big giveaway of heroes. The studio makes money from selling characters like Arthas the Lich King (one of Warcraft’s most important people), along with offering skins, loot chests, and other goodies. So handing out heroes to bring people back to the game is a significant step for Blizzard.
So far (and speaking just from my own observations here), we’re seeing more people playing and talking about the competitor to League of Legends and Dota 2. The chatter has increased on Twitter, and more streams and videos are appearing on Twitch and YouTube.
But from what we’re seeing, it’s still the same, player-friendly take on the MOBA — just with some free goodies. I logged in and played a bit to, living up to my long-held nickname of “Uther the Suckbringer” as I struggled with Heroes. I’m sure other people find it fun, but it’s just not my jam.
And that’s OK. What is interesting here is if the uptick of the chatter we’re seeing from people online corresponds with an influx of returning and new players to Heroes of the Storm 2.0. In the competitive free-to-play market, giving away goodies is important in retaining players.
But Blizzard is facing an even bigger question — will it have to give out more loot to keep any of these new players engaged a month or so down the line?
—Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor
Watch PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds spanks Team GamesBeat.
From GamesBeat
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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds passes 2 million copies sold
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Playful takes on Minecraft with open-world sandbox game Creativerse
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Epic’s Tim Sweeney: The tech for the metaverse is about 3 years away
We’ve overcome some of the early roadblocks that are preventing us from living every moment in virtual reality, and Epic Games founder thinks we’ll figure out the rest of the issues within the next few years. During a presentation at the GamesBeat Summit today in Berkeley (watch it here), Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney explained that the […]
Heroes of the Storm’s 2.0 update is about rewards, not changing the game
Blizzard has rebooted Heroes of the Storm without actually rebooting it. The developer has made a big to-do about Heroes of the Storm 2.0, effectively relaunching its free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) for PC. It launched earlier this week, introducing a new rewards program that takes a lot of cues from Blizzard’s hit team-based shooter, Overwatch. […]
Beyond GamesBeat
Master x Master: Sexy Characters Doing MOBA and Diablo Things
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YouTubers Say They Can’t Make Money Covering Call of Duty: WWII
Since March, YouTubers have watched their revenue plummet as advertisers bleed out of the platform. Some videos containing violence, real or fictional, are considered “inappropriate for advertising.” First-person shooter Call of Duty, a massively popular game on YouTube, is no walk in the park. So, the huge community that’s formed around it is getting hit by widespread demonetization. (via Kotaku)
As Esports Explodes, Will Valve’s ‘Dota 2’ Be Left for Dead?
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Why raiding is the biggest reason to be excited about Destiny 2
The PC is the birthplace of raiding. We know better than anyone how to gather a group of tanks, healers and DPSers in the noble name of taking down a boss so big that alone we’d struggle to tickle it. However, the most interesting thing to happen to raiding in recent years didn’t happen on PC. Destiny was only released on console, but it managed to fuse complex raid mechanics, surprisingly rich lore, and Bungie’s usual buttery smooth FPS gunplay to create, well, something new. Over the course of three years, Destiny has delivered four raids, each with its own unique flavor and multiple bosses featuring fiendishly opaque challenges to overcome. (via PC Gamer)
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