Blizzard revamps Heroes of the Storm pro circuit, will contract and pay players in 2017
Fans of Heroes of the Storm have long hoped that Blizzard would do a better job supporting it as a viable esport. On Thursday, the company unveiled plans to do just that.
In a blog post, Blizzard announced that they will significantly ramp up support for the Heroes of the Storm 2017 pro circuit by contracting and providing compensation for over 160 players spanning eight teams from each major region: North America, Europe, China, and Korea. These teams will play in a unified online league. Blizzard is also promising improvements in “the scheduling, casting, and quality of broadcasts all-year round.”
The revamped Heroes Global Championship will feature three international events over the season as well, with one of them being a truly global competition. Competitors from Taiwan, South East Asia, Latin America, and Australia/New Zealand will play in their own local events that will feed into these three major LANs.
Blizzard will also introduce a promotion and relegation system similar to that of League of Legends. Amateur teams will compete in a “Blizzard-sponsored Open Division,” which will feature weekly tournaments and prize money. Twice a year, the top two teams from the Open Division will face off against the bottom two from the HGC, who will have to defend their spots. Qualifiers for the HGC league will kick off in November.
While this is great news for the Heroes scene, many questions are left unanswered. It’s unclear how much each contracted player will make and what becomes of coach and manager support staff. There are also no details on the format of the games, draft, map pools, etc. More details should come in the following months.
Dylan Walker is on Twitter @dyluuxx