As part of our series ‘Esports Road Map’, we’ve been highlighting the future of all esports that we cover. Accordingly, in this episode we’ll be taking a look at Hearthstone esports and what the future holds in 2023!
Hearthstone Esports 2023 – Offline Events Needed
To kick things off, Blizzard Entertainment have not yet confirmed Hearthstone esports for 2023. However, Hearthstone Esports on Twitter did confirm the following:
We are working through the final 2023 announcement plans and will share them in the coming weeks.
Credits: Hearthstone Esports Twitter – November 22nd 2022
One month later, we’re tired of waiting. Read on as we discuss our expectations for 2023.
Our Predictions for 2023 – Reworking the Masters Tour
This past year, competitive Hearthstone involved two types of events – Grandmasters and Masters Tour.
Indeed, for 2022, Grandmasters events were reworked to occur less regularly and between only the very best players in each region. In between splits, international Masters Tour events would open the format to anyone skilled enough to leave an impression in the community.
Here were the top events from this past year:
- February – Masters Tour 2022 Onyxia’s Lair
- April – Masters Tour 2022 Voyage to Sunken City
- July – Masters Tour 2022 Vashj’ir
- October – Masters Tour 2022 Maw and Disorder
- October – Masters Fall Championship 2022
- December – Hearthstone World Championship 2022
However, the events overall were disappointing – not a single offline venue has been seen since Arlington 2020 Masters Tour in January.
While yes, since then the world changed, all the other esports are back to offline events – what are Blizzard waiting for?
Otherwise, we’re expecting a similar schedule of events with Grandmasters weekly tournaments in between tournaments.
Hearthstone Esports 2023 Road Map – Reawakening Viewership
However, there’s more than just the events which need changing.
Back in 2020, Blizzard signed an exclusive viewership deal since YouTube. Accordingly, this resulted in 80% loss of viewership – a deal which ends early 2023. The last World Championship this month saw a disastrously low viewership.
Just like Overwatch and Call of Duty saw an increase in viewership when their exclusive deals ended, the same is expected for Hearthstone.
Accordingly, 2023 is likely the year which makes or breaks competitive Hearthstone.
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