BEIJING, March 3 -- The cancellation of Hearthstone at the Hangzhou Asian Games – perhaps one of the more shocking news of the past day for many esports fans.
On the 16th, the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee issued a statement saying that "Hearthstone", as an e-sports project produced by Blizzard Entertainment in the United States and operated by China NetEase in China, due to the expiration of the business cooperation between the two parties, did not reach an agreement on the renewal of the contract, resulting in the termination of the project's operation team and server, and no longer had the preconditions for inclusion in the e-sports project of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Hearthstone cannot land
In accordance with the Hangzhou Asian Games program setup procedures, the Olympic Council of Asia determined in November 2021 that there will be a total of eight events in Hangzhou Asian Games e-sports. On March 11, after the fifth meeting of the Olympic Council of Asia Coordination Committee deliberated and decided to cancel the "Hearthstone" project setting, the Hangzhou Asian Games e-sports will set up seven events.
For friends who are not familiar with "Hearthstone", after seeing this official news from the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, they will be a little confused.
The story behind it will start at the beginning of this year.
What happened to Hearthstone?
All operations of "World of Warcraft", "Hearthstone", "Overwatch" and other products represented by NetEase in the Chinese mainland market were officially terminated at 1:24 on January 0. Blizzard shut down client downloads, Battle.net logins, and all game servers.
Image source: screenshot of netizen comment
With the end of the 14-year cooperation between NetEase and Blizzard, after Blizzard Battle.net could not land, #Hearthstone# topped the Weibo hot search list in a short period of time.
The cooperation between Blizzard and NetEase began in 2008 and has gone through more than ten years together. However, in November last year, the two companies issued statements saying that they had not reached an agreement on the renewal of the contract and would terminate the cooperation after the expiration of the agreement. This time node is 11:2023 on January 1, 24. "We will have to follow the announcement of NetEase to suspend the national server game service on January 0." Blizzard said.
Image source: screenshot of netizen comment
The player's voice lamented
Whether it is the end of NetEase and Blizzard, or today's official announcement that "Hearthstone" will not be able to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games, the regrets of many old players fill the comment areas of various social media.
On January 1, Chinese Blizzard players ushered in the "last day" on the national server. Many old players have logged into the game and said in the community chat, "goodbye to the rivers and lakes", "memories drift in the wind", "come back on the last day to see"...
After learning today's news, many netizens said that the fate of professional players may change. "The pros should have been training for this for a long time, but it's a pity."
Image source: screenshot of netizen comment
In addition, in the comment area, there are also netizens who recommend other esports projects to fill the vacancy of "Hearthstone". Among them, games such as "The Fifth Personality" and even "Call of the Seven Saints" and "Egg Boy Party" are quite popular.
In fact, after NetEase and Blizzard parted ways, many players expected that the future development of "Hearthstone" would be more difficult. In the eyes of many people, it is reasonable that this project did not participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
However, for the Chinese team fighting on their doorstep, the withdrawal of "Hearthstone" has some special significance. Because from the past results, in Asia, Chinese players have considerable strength in "Hearthstone". Therefore, in various previews, the Chinese team is also considered to be the favorite to win the Asian Games event.
At present, a total of 2 projects are expected to appear at the Hangzhou Asian Games, including Honor of Kings (Asian Games Version), League of Legends, Dota 7, FIFA, Peace Elite (Asian Games Version), Street Fighter and Dream Kingdoms. (End)