Gaming
Blizzard Shifts Heroes Of The Storm Developers To Other Projects, Halts 2019 eSports Tournaments
The popular PC multiplayer online battle arena title, Heroes of the Storm, brings together an army of iconic Blizzard characters in 5v5 online battle situations. It seems, however, that Blizzard might be ready to move on from the moba title; or at least begin packing their bags.
A recent blog post from Blizzard Entertainment entailed the future plans for the AAA developers, and Heroes of the Storm seems to be taking a back seat. Most of the developing staff for the battle.net “hero brawler” are currently being divvied up to begin work on other projects, which paints a rather bleak image for the game’s future.
In the post, Blizzard goes on to explain:
“…we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects(…)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.”
While the news of teams shrinking is never meant to be taken as a positive, it’s a bit relieving to know that Blizzard still anticipates supporting the online game in the future. But for how much longer, that remains to be seen.
What’s more is that Blizzard has also cancelled its two big eSports tournaments, Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm, for the upcoming 2019 season. This will put well-over 100 pro eSports athletes out of work, as well as continue a slow decline in the game’s overall popularity.
However, it might not all be bad news in the world of Blizzard video games. Moving teams to new projects is a sign that the next line of Blizzard experiences are in heavy development, and while new content being dropped for Heroes may be slowed by the move to shift developing teams around, at least we know it’s not over for the online moba. Yet.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
New World Interactive, the developer of the Insurgency series of tactical first-person shooters, has laid off an unknown number of employees as part of Embracer Group’s comprehensive restructuring plan.
Saber Interactive, which acquired New World in 2020, told Eurogamer that the studio had not closed. However, it confirmed an unknown number of layoffs.
Embracer says it is “actively working to fill existing open roles” with impacted employees and will provide severance packages. “Saber also assures that development will continue on Insurgency: Sandstorm, as well as on unannounced future projects,” it said.
Over 900 employees were laid off in an “agonizing” but “necessary” process. As always, we hope all victims recover.
Sony wants non-console owners to access its content beyond its PlayStation-walled garden. This strategy has been slowly implemented: the company has commissioned TV and movie adaptations of its biggest franchises, ported select software to the PC, and launched a mobile gaming division.
In an interview with Nikkei, head Hideaki Nishino explained how this strategy can boost console sales: We want to use movies and dramas to get non-gamers to try PlayStation games. Sales of The Last of Us increased during the live-action drama.
When HBO’s adaptation aired, our The Last of Us content skyrocketed, so we can understand its impact. As a PlayStation fan site, we support this strategy because we want to reach as many people as possible, so if Sony can appeal to non-console owners, that’s a win-win.
More PlayStation users is better, in our opinion.
PowerWash Simulator is one of this month’s PS Plus Essentials, but before you start scrubbing, check out the PS Store. The game has been well supported on PS5 and PS4 with free DLC packs based on Square Enix titles since its release at the start of the year.
Free Final Fantasy VII and Tomb Raider expansions let you clean Croft Manor and Seventh Heaven. The free DLC packs add 10 levels, and the paid ones add more.
Two more Back to the Future and SpongeBob SquarePants expansions cost £6.49 or $7.99 each. You can then scrub the Bikini Bottom and the DeLorean.
The Midgar Special Pack for PowerWash Simulator was another reason to use the cleaning kit. “It doesn’t add much, but getting close to FF7’s props and environments is fun. It offers a fresh take on the beloved title that will please both sides of this collaboration.”
Have you tried the latest PS Plus Essential game?
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