By all accounts, Heroes of the Storm hasn’t gone the way Blizzard would have liked. The game still has a healthy player base but doesn’t come anywhere close to rivaling the rulers of the MOBA kingdom. To that end, Blizzard recently announced that their alignments were shifting. This also means that the official esports programs for the game won’t return in 2019, but that won’t deter the community surrounding the game. While Blizzard isn’t officially carrying on with Heroes esports, the community may fill in the gaps.
Heroes Lounge is a European amateur Heroes of the Store league that tries to cover all bases. With more official tournaments like the Heroes Global Championship going away, this organization wants to provide something of an alternative. Dubbed the Heroes Lounge Division S, it will be a competition for high-level teams from Europe and the United States. Teams will compete for crowdfunded prizes and matches will broadcast via the organization’s existing Twitch presence.
Read our plans to #saveHotS, lauching Division Shttps://t.co/9B5saMDVGt pic.twitter.com/sGobMMBu4h
— Heroes Lounge (@HeroesLoungeGG) December 19, 2018
Heroes Lounge is trying to get the ball rolling fast to keep the game’s community spirit alive in the wake of Blizzard reshuffling its priorities around the competitive scene. Signups for the tournament qualifiers will open on January 1, with matches taking place in February and league play starting in March. The aforementioned crowdfunded prize pool has a $10,000 goal and has reached $7,000 as of the time of this writing.
If nothing else, the HOTS community is showing Blizzard that there’s definitely still interest in this game, even if it is not the biggest MOBA around. While Heroes of the Storm is arguably better as a casual Smash Bros-esque for the Blizzard set, the passion for keeping the competition alive is clear. Here’s hoping that the team still working on the game can also show that passion in the updates released throughout 2019.
