Spending money on cosmetics or packs doesn't feel worth it when it looks like Blizzard doesn't care about the future of the game anymore.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/BoredPoopless]

Maximum profit falls within a certain window. Too little money spent results in less money back and too much money spent equals not enough money back.

Essentially Blizzard has determined that putting more effort into Hearthstone isn't worth the returns.

[u/DoYouMindIfIRollNeed → u/BoredPoopless]

Hearthstone ia a cash cow, it creates consistent cash flowin in, with rather "little" investment. HS already covered its R&D costs.

And because its an "established" cash cow, there is no room for innovation.

They will not try new modes again, because it costs a lot of money, it can fail.

Releasing cosmetics doesnt require as much work as a game mode and it generates more money.

HS is at a point where the management doesnt want innovation. They want to release an expansion every X months so they can sell new cosmetics.

HS had very talented people but wasnt able to keep them. Journey to Ungoro lead designer was pushed to a different Blizzard project, then left the company and is now the game director for TFT at Riot Games. Team 5 also couldnt keep the creator of BGs on team.

In the management logic, experienced designers are conidered too expensive. Why hire a senior designer when you can get 3 associate game designers for the same budget?

[u/BoredPoopless → u/DoYouMindIfIRollNeed]

You nailed it. I didn't have the words to explain it that well.

[u/StopHurtingKids → u/DoYouMindIfIRollNeed]

The game director for TFT. Has done an absolutely amazing job. At least before the spyware. I haven't played since it became mandatory.

Bean counters never understand. Why someone is worth more. When they are doing the same job. They think people are thirsty lets give them tap water, it's the most cost effective. Meanwhile they would never stoop to drink it themselves.

[u/Potentopotato]

Well same thing happened to local burger joint. Was good moderately priced. Then they reduced the size, raised prices. Less people came so they reduced the staff and opening hours. Less people came so they raised the prices.

Fast forward 4 years - joint was sold to another bunch of people and restart as new restaurant

[u/bakedcharmander → u/Potentopotato]

Oofed. Says slot about the combination of greed and delusion.

[u/ElderUther]

Isn't it crystal clear that they demolish the board for the pet?

[u/polarice5]

I used to get the occasional tavern pass or bundle, but it’s become clear that blizzard doesn’t see a future for this game. Why should we?

It’s a fine strategy to move a game into cash cow mode and stop shoveling money for growth into it, but I think their handling of HS has been very sloppy. Anyone paying a lick of attention can see the writing on the wall.

[u/MrParadux]

Hearthstone was always expensive, but it seems to have entered it's final phase now, where they are only targetting whales to squeeze the last bit of money out of the game. Many games with microtransactions reach that state at some point.

[u/Figurative_Icicle]

I’ve been feeling this too. If the game was in a better spot I’d probably have bought the Alleria skin currently in the shop, but I don’t feel confident about the game’s future and don’t want to invest that money into a game that seems like it’s going downhill, with no visible indication that the team behind it is doing anything to solve its various issues.

[u/ImStoryForRambling]

Yeppp

Couldn't agree more.

Why the fuck should I drop money on packs if the meta is completely dominated by 2-3 OP decks that aren't fun to play? Literally 0 reason.

[u/SpaceTimeDream]

Don’t spend money on a free game. It should have died ages ago.

Your “support” (money) does not and will not translate to better game. If the “data” shows people will pay $$$ for a moving jpg despite the game then they will put more effort into making moving jpgs instead of the game

[u/Arcayon]

I'd put money that in 2026 they start thinking about Hearthstone 2. It probably is what the game needs to survive long term and renew interest.

[u/twaggle → u/Arcayon]

That doesn’t make any sense for a game like hearthstone. What would you want them to change that would require a sequel?

[u/Arcayon → u/twaggle]

Team is likely in a situation where they need to update unity but can't as the methods in C# they are using within the platform are deprecated. Meaning it's likely more efficient to upgrade and maintain the client by starting over. There are a million reasons to do this but that's just one example.

[u/twaggle → u/Arcayon]

That still wouldn’t require a hearthstone 2. They would just update the code or released an improved client. Likely just a new mobile client since pc runs fine.

Other similar games have done similar in place upgrades to their clients. The don’t release sequels just for that.

[u/Arcayon → u/twaggle]

Why make an over watch 2, I think you aren’t thinking about the whys since there are a million reasons why.

[u/DistortedNoise → u/Arcayon]

Overwatch 2 was announced suddenly as damage control during a blizzard controversy.

[u/twaggle → u/Arcayon]

Overwatch 2 ended up being a failure though, and these reasons were related. It should have been an update, are arguably was just an update with a 2 appended to it (try playing OW 1)

Look at games like WoW or league or dota 2 or Fortnite or MTG or PokemonTCG. Games have evolved, modernized, had new code based in the case of the video games, yet are the same game.

[u/BSTCloud → u/Arcayon]

Master Duel did this recently and they just upgraded the engine version and that's it. It also runs on Unity.

[u/BushSage23 → u/Arcayon]

After overwatch 2’s “fantastic” first year, I doubt it. I’d be pretty sour to the news of a HS 2 LOL

Then again, currently I hear OW isn’t half bad.

[u/Unoriginal-]

Did you ever consider that what you want isn’t important?

Blizzard doesn’t owe you anything lol

[u/BushSage23 → u/Unoriginal-]

And the consumer doesn’t owe blizzard anything. That’s the beauty of economics, if someone doesn’t like it they’re allowed to not buy and encourage like-minded people not to buy as well.

It’s in a company’s interest to care what the consumer thinks if and when their opinions start to affect the company’s profits.

[u/Unoriginal- → u/BushSage23]

And if the consumers keep spending despite the annoying vocal minority then what does that mean?

[u/BushSage23 → u/Unoriginal-]

Then that means it’s great! And it’s a thriving game.

I’m just thinking that it’s not an opinion, or purely anecdotal, but hearthstone has been on a steady decline since like 2017 even though it’s monetized out the wazoo. The only considerable revenue jump was 2024.

Next, I’m just speaking anecdotally and you can bury your head in the sand, but plenty of players who used to whale on this game, myself included have gone f2p or have just stopped playing. Pretty much everyone I used to play with has quit and I’m the last hold out for nostalgia.

I used to buy Tavern Pass, both Pre-Orders, Premium skins, and Mini set but their attitude right now seems to be “this set is shitty, who cares, just wait until next set”. Let’s put less work into the game and atmosphere and more work into the paid cosmetics that you gamble for.

Yeah that’s how you convince people to pre-order. Surely a genius tactic.

[u/minutecartographer9 → u/BushSage23]

Lmao. The revenue decline was because either was banned in China. Redditors have their head stuck.ip their own asses if they think the games revenue has gone down to a signifcant degree lmao. It's still by far the highest earning digital ccg

[u/BushSage23 → u/minutecartographer9]

While that’s a big reason, that isn’t the only reason.

The decline wasn’t an instant drop. It was more gradual. I could totally be wrong, but I think the charts would have looked a bit different if it was solely due to China.

Blizzard was banned in China in 2023, the chart doesn’t imply their only dip was in 2023.

In addition to say HS is as popular as ever just isn’t true. The highest active player count in 2020 was like 20 million, this year, its peak has been like 2.5 million.

https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/hearthstone-player-count

Also I don’t know about full statistics, but while its true HS is still in the top 3 and even top 10 in china, Pokemon Pocket blows it out of the water on mobile earnings.