Over here at esportsguide, we always wish the best for the esports that we cover. However, we always keep it honest when it comes to criticising and praising the industry. Accordingly, Hearthstone Esports 2022 wasn’t up to par – read on as we analyze the year and discuss what could have been improved.
Hearthstone Esports 2022 – Many Factors
Heading into 2022, Blizzard Entertainment announced some changes to try spice things up. Trying to make changes to the format and revising the Master Tour events got us excited – could this year be the opportunity for the esport to return to its former glory?
Indeed, with $3,000,000 on the line across the entire season, what could go wrong?
Here’s a list of the events which took place this past year:
- February – Masters Tour Onyxia’s Lair
- April – Masters Tour Voyage to the Sunken City
- June – Masters Summer Championship
- July – Masters Tour 2022 Vashj’ir
- October – Masters Tour 2022 Maw and Disorder
- October – Masters Fall Championship 2022
- December – Hearthstone World Championship 2022
In between the Majors, smaller competitions and the weekly Grandmasters events kept things busy – but was it enough?
State of the Community – Reflected in the Viewership
No, apparently not. Starting with viewership, a great metric to evaluate participation and excitement in the esport, it’s all been downhill since 2017.
Moreover, this is most evident in the post-season event, the Hearthstone World Championship. Naturally, as the last event of the season and featuring the top players in the world with the best prize pool – it’s the highlight of the year.
However, ever since 2017, viewership every year has declined steadily, as revealed by Esports Charts:
- 2017 Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 294,525
- 2019 Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 276,206
- 2020 Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 89,246
- 2021 Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 23,409
- 2022 Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 21,786
Of course, we need to ask why this viewership has gone down the drain – a tragic 7% of what it used to be in 2017.
We’d like to think that there are a couple reasons why:
The Game Itself – A Lack of Change?
With time, should there be a lack of updates are changes to a title, the community may become ‘bored’ and move on.
Titles such as CS:GO and VALORANT keep things fresh with map changes and weapon tweaks. Meanwhile, MOBAs such as LoL and DOTA make frequent balance changes.
All of these mentioned changes have a massive effect on the gameplay.
Yet, when it comes to Hearthstone – changes involve adjusting the cards, adding new ones and in-game events. Since 2017, the gameplay hasn’t changed much and perhaps, players simply aren’t interested anymore.
Instead competitors such as Magic: The Gathering is enjoying massive success.
Viewership – A Restraining Contract
Another factor for the viewership is the fact that ahead of the 2022 season, Blizzard Entertainment signed a deal with YouTube.
Specifically, it meant that all competitive events would now have to broadcasted strictly on YouTube.
Accordingly, all of the Blizzard Leagues (Call of Duty League, Overwatch League) suffered a reduction in viewership considering YouTube’s reduced popularity near Twitch.
Naturally, this definitely contributed.
Hearthstone Esports 2022 – Still No Offline Events?
Excuses and a lack of investment also do not help.
Indeed, we’re referring a lack of offline events without any valid reason. Yes, in 2020 the global situation made it rather difficult and it effected multiple esports
However, since then, multiple esports are back with offline events – this year saw every esports return with crowds, while in 2021 there were no crowds.
There hasn’t been an offline event since Masters Tour 2020 Arlington (January).
Online events can only be so exciting, and this likely affected viewership.
Hearthstone Esports 2022 – Need to Change
Heading into 2023, the contract with YouTube is expiring, there’s hope for offline events and potential game changes.
Let’s hope that things ramp up for this esports which used to be very popular.
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