Blizzard today announced sweeping changes at the top of the company, with long-time President J. Allen Brack leaving his role following a swathe of abuse allegations over the past month or so.
On Monday afternoon, the Heroes of the Storm community was greeted by the 90th playable hero to enter the nexus as Hogger, the gnarly, nasty gnoll, was announced on the game's official Twitter account.
On Monday morning, HeroesHearth, daughter company of Wisdom Gaming Group and creator of the upcoming Heroes of the Storm Community Clash League announced the eight organizations that will be rostering teams for the upcoming event.
When the Heroes of the Storm development team first designed Gazlowe (or Tinker, as he was initially called), the game was completely different than it is now. What heroes could do, how maps were designed, and how the game was "meant" to be played has changed dramatically over the years. So when Gazlowe was introduced into the title back in 2014, his kit worked well for the time period. He could split push lanes, clear mercenary camps efficiently and his team-fighting ability wasn't that bad. Fast forward to the year 2020 (and two reworks later), the development team felt it was time to give his kit another look after his most recent overhaul in 2017.
When Blizzard Entertainment first released Heroes of the Storm back in the spring of 2014, Gazlowe was a playable character. In the six years since his kit has been tweaked and reworked a few times (most recently in 2017). Despite having a personality and swagger entirely his own, his kit, while unique, never felt particularly impactful as the amount of setup required for him to be useful oftentimes wasn't worth the outcome.
When Overwatch's favorite gamer, D.Va, made her way into the nexus back in 2017, players of multiple Blizzard titles chomped at the bit to see how the Heroes of the Storm development team was able to turn this half-mech, half-girl into a MOBA champion while still maintaining her familiarity.
On Tuesday afternoon, HeroesHearth, daughter company of Wisdom Gaming Group and long-time supporter of Heroes of the Storm, revealed details of their upcoming Community Clash League (CCL) which aims to provide a platform for the best players in North America to showcase their skills.
US President, Donald Trump, signed an executive order banning transactions to Tencent Holdings Ltd., who own Riot Games, and part of Epic Games, Blizzard, Supercell, and others, causing a massive shakeup in the gaming and esports industry. Read more here:
"So, perhaps taking a break from massive BlizzCon isn't the worst thing to happen. In fact, one can argue that the massive amounts of hype and expectation BlizzCon created every year is the same thing that started Blizzard's fall from grace in the first place"
Shortly after the dust settled at the Anaheim Convention Center on November 3, 2018, where the annual BlizzCon event was held, it was time to look towards the future. Professional Heroes of the Storm players and fans had just witnessed Gen. G esports crush Team Dignitas to cement themselves as arguably the greatest team that has ever competed in the game's multi-year history and take home a sizeable $500,000 cash prize for their efforts.
The law firm Pomerantz LLP announced that they are investigating Activision Blizzard's fraud charge. Pomerantz LLP, a law firm that specializes in corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigations, disclosed in a press release that they have received information that Activision Blizzard did not notify investors beforehand of their split from their partner, Bungie, in concerns for the stock price falling; if this is true, they will be investigating whether this was a deliberate act or if some of the investors happened to not be aware of it. Activision Blizzard made an announcement on January 10th that they will be splitting from Bungie, the company that developed the Destiny series, after a 10-year partnership. Simultaneously, Bungie announced they have taken over the publishing rights for the Destiny franchise, which had been serviced by Activision Blizzard. This has caused Activision Blizzard's stock price to fall from $ 51.35 (10th 16:00) to $ 45.48 (11th 10:00) based on NASDAQ.
This cartoon is based on the sudden disbandment of the HGC (Heroes of the Storm Global Championship), and major concerns regarding esports being recognized as an official sport.On the 14th, the HGC wa