Heroes of the Storm's struggles continue to grow, as Twitch viewership for the MOBA has dropped by nearly half over the past two months. The situation shouldn't be too surprising given Blizzard's sudden December decision to end the esports league for Heroes of the Storm and scale back overall support of the game's development. Nevertheless, Blizzard's lack of faith in Heroes of the Storm may ultimately prove a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the community around the game continues to transition to games with more reliable backing.

According to Invent Global, Twitch viewership for Heroes of the Storm during December 2018 averaged just over 4,000 viewers at any given moment. Not an overly impressive number, but somewhat understandable given it was the esports off-season, and December is traditionally a seasonal low point for Twitch viewership. Of course, December was also when Blizzard announced its Heroes of the Storm cuts, so viewership that month was already being affected.

As of January 2019, Twitch viewership for Heroes of the Storm dramatically dropped to just over 2,700. The drop can be attributed both to the several of the MOBA's most popular streamers switching games and general viewership for the game continuing to shrink. As of February, that viewership average is now closer to 2,250. In less than two months, Heroes of the Storm Twitch viewership is half of what it was and is unlikely to climb out of its off-season lull.

A more specific example of Heroes of the Storm's troubles would be in comparing tournament viewership. The Gold Series Heroes League for Season 3 sported over 4,400 viewers outside of China in July 2018. The most recent Heroes of the Storm tournament, the Toasty & Gladman Heroes Invitation hosted by Tempo Storm, managed just over 1,400 viewers on Twitch. To be fair, the scale of tournaments is slanted, but with Heroes' future tournament schedule uncertain there may no longer be any better or more reliable opportunities for comparison.

The true test for Heroes of the Storm's future will be whether it can retain continued support in China. Where the Gold Series Season 3 finale may have garnered just 4,400 views, in China the viewership was near 90,000. The Gold Series was officially confirmed for two new seasons in 2019 by its sponsor, Netease, in November 2018. Whether or not those plans will remain on track given Blizzard's cuts made in December is unclear. Nevertheless, it's likely that any tournament won't be reaching 90,000 viewers again, in China or elsewhere.

Heroes of the Storm is available now on PC.

Source:  Inven Global