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How Blizzard can monetize Heroes of the Storm going forward
Activision Blizzard loves making money. So much so, that their Chief Executive Officer, Bobby Kotick, during their most recent earnings call began his statement with: “We once again achieved record results in 2018.” What followed was him stating that the company would be laying off around 800 individuals but that’s a different story altogether. A few of the company’s entities: Overwatch, the Overwatch League, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone have reliably brought in income for the company in recent years. What has struggled-- and likely one of the reasons why developers were moved off the title and onto more profitable ones-- is a way for Heroes of the Storm players to be incentivized to spend money in or on a title they love. This isn’t a recent development either. All a die-hard fan of the game has to do is visit Blizzard’s official gear shop online or at a company-sponsored tournament and you will see very, very little Heroes of the Storm merchandise. Why this is so perplexing is the concept of Heroes lends itself well to merchandising.
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4 Games to play during oppressively long Heroes of the Storm queue times.
We’ve all been there. You download the newest Heroes of the Storm patch on the launcher, anticipating the opportunity to jump into a Ranked game and try out the newest tweaks on your favorite heroes. You rush to click on “Hero League” or “Team League” when, like a Death Eater from Harry Potter, an estimated queue time of 803 seconds sucks the excitement out of your body. What’s there to do for over 13 minutes? You could pray to the Lord of Sin, Azmodan, and hope the stars align in a way that the wait is only a couple of moments. Or, if you’re truly cursed, the 803 seconds is a conservative estimation and, depending on your rank, you may be sitting in the queue for upwards of 20 minutes. You could cancel your attempt to play in Ranked mode and wait only a few minutes to play Quick Match or Unranked but, eh, that’s not your cup of tea. You’re a competitive fiend whose skin tingles when you see +3 for Performance Adjustment at the end of a hard-earned win. The good thing is that, while I cannot make your queue time any faster, I can present a list of cheap or free games that you can play in queue opposed to having your mind slip into madness as you watch your two favorite heroes spin in a circle as you wait for a game to begin.
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The Choices Pro Gamers Face: Performing Abroad, Live Streaming, and Thoughts on Their Retirement...
They say that life is made up of an infinite amount of choices; this also applies to pro gamers as well. After they fulfill their dream of becoming one, they still have numerous paths to choose, such
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Meet Aydan: How an average teenager found fortune in Tilted Towers
Everywhere you go, you can’t escape Epic Games' groundbreaking title, Fortnite. At the mall, in movie theaters, out to dinner with friends, even on jumbotrons at sporting events, you see dozens of kids showcasing dance moves featured in the game itself. Heads are no longer tilted in wonder when it’s talked about. Instead, those who have never heard of it are increasingly becoming rarer and rarer beings as pop culture thrusts the title in their faces, like a new parent who wants to showcase 2.5 x 3.5-inch photos of their children in their wallet at any given time. The game amassed billions of dollars in 2018 and created multi-million dollar celebrities from players who enjoy streaming the title on Twitch or competing in large tournaments around the globe. This isn’t the story of one of those millionaires who live in a house that features a dining room larger than any place of residence they grew up in or someone who showcases their newest Tesla vehicle they purchased for six-figures on social media or even has two computers to power their Twitch stream. In fact, on stream, you can see a microwave in the background, a stack of dirty dishes sitting on the counter and individuals throughout the day walking in and out of their modern trailer home.
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2019 LPL Spring W2 Recap: JDG Defeats Invictus Gaming… Suning Adds 2 Wins and Remains Undefeated
2019 LPL Spring Standings (set score) 1. Suning 4 - 0 (8 - 1) 2. FunPlus Phoenix 3 - 0 (6 - 1) 3. Invictus Gaming 3 - 1 (7 - 2) 4. EDward Gaming 2 - 1 (5 - 3) 5. Bilibli Gaming 2 - 1 (4 - 2) 5. Sino