Blizzard Entertainment
In the world of e-sports, Bilzzard Entertainment, already has some big names on the playbill. Hearthstone has always drawn a crowd and now that it’s mobile, forget about it. Don’t forget about buried banelings, however; Starcraft can bring the house down as much as any CS:GO round.
There Are Games That Are So Big No One Wants To Even Touch A Genre
Then there is League of Legends. Wowser, is that a game with a following. It’s pervasive in gaming culture; its been reduced to a single word, league, just league. It’s a Brazilian soccer player.
You just can’t challenge league with any other MOBA. That’s the type of thinking that would have stopped Heroes of the Storm dead in its tracks and the Heroes Global Championship with it.
Blizzard wasn’t trying to reinvent the genre but in a way they did. The reinvention has been criticized as overly simple but Heroes 2.0 has shown there is a lot more to HotS. As the number of worldwide players grows, the number of playable Heroes keeps growing, and the Nexus is flat-out, heating up when it comes to the pros.
At the end of this year’s HGC people are going to be going for the gold, the prize pool for the final is over a million dollars. A million dollars to win by playing a video game? Yes and did I mention it’s from Blizzard Entertainment?
Using Regional Leagues Around the World the HGC Has Created A Global Esports Phenomenon But It’s Also A Grassroots Movement on Twitch.tv
The Heroes Global Championship gave the power to the people and created a regional tournament structure. Giving opportunities to the biggest Korean Superpowers, Stellar Lotus, or even some guys from your college dorm. (Shout out to Sharpe 3)
Blizzard also created other professional and semi professional tournaments. I just said it and it’s actually true; you could be the best player in your dorm room and win a big scholarship in Heroes of the Dorm.
You could be in your room upstairs at Mom’s house and be the top player, Grand Master, on the EU servers. Heroes of the Storm and the HGC allowed and empowered thousands of Blizzard fans to play, watch, and enjoy a new exciting user experience. A new MOBA with your favorite characters and creative battlegrounds.
HotS has broad appeal and that allowed for an international audience. An audience that was driven by twitch.tv and reddit. It was talked about and streamed. It provided a new opportunity for broadcasters and professional players alike.
It had a global pool of talent to choose from, professional players too tired or unable to stay at the top of the RTS/MOBA scene. It had fans, now it had streamers, and from that audience came enough investment to sustain a global professional enterprise. It’s an incredibly diverse culture and the game benefits from that.
It’s Like Ned Stark Said, “Blizzcon Is Coming”
It’s no joke when you put up a million dollars. It’s definitely no joke when you do it for all your big games. It’s always a party at Blizzcon and every fan is just ecstatic. They’re hungry for the best action and the pros are ready to give it to them.
If you don’t think there are some big changes going on right now in HotS; you’re dead wrong. Their are some meta changes and some new characters that are going to change the way this tournament is played.
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Heroes of the Storm: What is the Heroes Global Championship?