Just moments ago, Tricked Esports released an official "goodbye" message on their website, citing a "new strategy in 2018" and no "room for improving" their chances in game.

Fans of the roster can relax, however, as the HGC spot was given back to the players and, according to the release, will not be disbanding. The team, now calling themselves Monkey Menagerie, will apparently continue to compete but without an official organization backing them. 

A numbers game

In the announcement, Tricked esports leadership made it clear as to why they were departing the HGC: it just wasn't worth the investment for them.

"It's been a fun and great experience for our brand, but at the moment we don't experience that the game is giving back enough to keep investing money into the title. I would like to thank every person who wrote #GETTRICKED or paid for our stuff in-game, you truly are the backbone of the game.

Hopefully, the Blizzard esports team will look into our feedback and change certain stuff for the future so Heroes of the storm can flourish as an esports title."

-- Morten 'Phy' Jensen, CEO of Tricked esports

The exact feedback that was given to Blizzard is unknown.  Whatever the "certain stuff" was, it appears that Tricked Esports leadership thought it was preventing Heroes of the Storm from flourishing as an esport.