Blizzard Entertainment is officially ending new content development for its MOBA Heroes of the Storm and will instead focus solely on keeping the game running smoothly with seasonal rolls, hero rotations, bug fixes, balance updates, and more.
Blizzard shared the news in a blog alongside reminding fans that Heroes of the Storm was first released seven years ago. Blizzard took the time to thank the Heroes community and promises to those who still wish to play that it is "committed to making sure that you can continue to enjoy your adventures through the Nexus."
Unfortunately, this means there won't be any new content and the game will enter a phase that is shared by games like StarCraft and StarCraft 2.
"Moving forward we will support Heroes in a manner similar to our other longstanding games, StarCraft and StarCraft II," Blizzard wrote. "In the future, we’ll continue seasonal rolls and hero rotations, and while the in-game shop will remain operational there are no plans for new for-purchase content to be added. Future patches will primarily focus on client sustainability and bug fixing, with balance updates coming as needed."
As a "token of [Blizzard's] appreciation" to its Heroes of the Storm fans, it will make up for this decision by gifting the "incredibly rare Epic Arcane Lizard mount" to all players with next week's patch.
In our 2018 re-review of Heroes of the Storm, we said that it "packs a ton of variety and excellent characters. Some of this MOBA's modes work better than others, but it's a safe bet that it'll deliver a fun match."
Also in 2018, Blizzard confirmed it was scaling down Heroes of the Storm development as it needed to "take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects."
As Blizzard winds down support on Heroes of the Storm, it is also getting ready to launch Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV into the world. Overwatch 2 will arrive first on October 4 and Diablo IV will follow in 2023.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.