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Heroes of the Storm no longer in the Competitive Esports Scene

The gaming developers, Blizzard have decided to cancel all Heroes of the Storm tournaments namely the Heroes Global Championship that was to take place next year. The news broke out in a blog post signed by Blizzard President J. Allen Brack and the Chief Development Officer, Ray Gresko. 

This move means that Blizzard will give more focus on other esports games in their portfolio. The dismissal of the biggest Heroes of the Storm match was proof enough that the game did not prove to be a viable esports game.

The news of this dramatic decision reached the four corners of the globe. Many professional players invested their time practising in the video game have expressed their anger. Content creators that have made Heroes of the Storm their livelihood have expressed their sadness and are now confused about what to do next.

With so much time, even years of practice and learning the game Heroes of the Storm for players, coaches they cannot dream to make it to the top now. A money maker like Blizzard bombards a sudden bombshell to make more money in their other esports games.

It is thanks to the professionals and casual gamers that Blizzard is what it has become today, so where is the appreciation? Well, there will still be the video game available to play casually as the blog states:

We'll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change. Ultimately, we're setting up the game for long-term sustainability.      

The game developers that worked on Heroes of the Storm will most likely be moved around to work on other games within the company as Brack and Gresko point out:

This isn't the first time we've had to make tough choices like this. Games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Overwatch and more would not exist had we not made similar decisions in the past.

Esports vs Sports

Over the past year, there was some controversy over esports taking place at sports events like the Olympics. Several politicians have viewed their opinions about competitive gaming as a sport in the past. More recently, the German minister of the Interior and Sports Peter Bojt voiced his views at the Congress of Athletes in an interview with Fox Sports in Darmstadt, Germany.

Esports has nothing to do with sports. We need to eradicate the term. I am not sure that finger movements can be considered a sport, even if on the screen something happens. This Congress is devoted to education and health. We want to involve our children in the gym. Of course, the games have their advantages, but they are not related to the sports values.

The aspect of physical sports also applies for esports players who train in the gym to exercise and break away from routine. The practice of teamwork, discipline, training, warming up and mentally preparing for the competition are all common factors between sports and esports. 

All those who love esports still go on to promote gaming in a positive light. This year, Riot Games developers and their video game, League of Legends were quite a success at the Game Awards 2018. In fact, the best esports event, the World Championships 2018 broke records with viewers that watched a total of 190 million hours. 

The worlds best esports team of 2018 was none other than Cloud 9 League of legends unit for their excellent performance at Worlds defeating Afreeca Freecs 3-0. Add to this, their CS: GO team won over Faze Clan in the Eleague Major Boston. However, Cloud 9 were the winners in 2017, so they had their moment of glory already.

I feel that a squad like Astralis should have received the prize of best team of the year 2018. A Danish unit that has managed to top the gaming leaderboards over past several months. They won tournaments like the Intel Extreme Masters Chicago, FACEIT Major London and Eleague CSGO Premier 2018. 

SIGMA and Supernova Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament in Malta

The last week of November was quite busy in the gaming industry most especially in Malta. The biggest gaming Expo, SIGMA was held in Ta'Qali, where the prestigious gaming conference took place as well as the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in St. Julians.   

SIGMA is the prestigious fair in Malta that celebrates everything that relates to gaming such as poker, casino, sports and esports. On top of this, payment solutions like cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies. Over the course of three days, there were workshops and conferences that explain  This year has brought to Malta, the most famed event organisers ESL or also known as Electronic Sports League thanks to GamingMalta which could potentially bring more esports events to Maltese shores. 

This past weekend also celebrated the first ever Supernova Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, a shooting video game tournament held in Malta that took place at the Intercontinental arena in Saint Julians. Eight top international teams from America, Europe and Asia got to compete against each other for a share from a prize pool of 150K.     

"We are constantly seeking to extend the Gaming sector into the world of esports and we are now at a point where we are turning words into facts."

The Parliament Secretary for Digital Economy, Silvio Schembri has expressed the innovative way of expanding into gaming at the Supernova Press Conference. 

Being an island can have its limitations and attracting a bigger audience can be a challenge especially when the prices are high for these gaming events. The target gaming audience varies from 15-year-olds to 25-year-olds many of whom are students. So to attract the live gaming spectators to such tournaments, the prices need to be lower than 40 Euros for one day. Compared to Dreamhack Winter 2018 that took place in Jonkoping Sweden the tickets prices are lower costing 24 Euros for one day pass.  

Introductory

Would you choose to play a video game over working all day? Most people think that gaming is not a positive way of earning money, up until a few years back it was considered a waste of time.


However, what if I said that you could travel the world, see the cultural sights and experience so much more while you play games. Better yet, you get paid for it.


Aside from investing your time to practice video games and improving the skills that could lead you to participate in international gaming competitions held around the world. Travelling to different countries will open your eyes to different cultures in every corner of the globe. On top of this, the environment, the cultural identity and friendships make the gaming journey all the more fun.   


Esports is the new competitive gaming trend that helps promote travel to different countries especially for gaming enthusiasts all over the world. Aside from those people who play poker and casino games, the youths who love gaming is set to increase year on year in esports. 


From one country to another there is a difference of mentality, temperament, discipline and competition. The gaming popularity in a nation knows about electronic gaming, and this will bring more awareness and promotion as well as encouraging new players to pursue their passion. With world-known sponsors, best competitive teams in the world, the countries authorities will learn how beneficial the gaming sector can be in other industries such as tourism.   


My name is Christina, I have been following the gaming industry for the past five years, and this has given me the knowledge that I can share with you. Feel free to browse through my blog entries as well as my choice of the latest news websites I follow. On the right side, you will also find a few other articles that I have written for other sites, covering the games and everything related. In the coming weeks, I will be writing about what is happening in the esports world.