OCA announces the removal of Hearthstone
Hearthstone, the popular multiplayer online free-to-play digital collectable card game is no longer a part of the official esports medal events. After the fifth Coordination Committee meeting held on the 16th of March, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced the removal of Hearthstone. It was proposed by The Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC) and the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF). The list of Esports medal events is now down to 7 in number. It was said that there was an ongoing negotiation back in November 2022, last year, regarding the extension of operating rights. Speculations are that there was no conclusion regarding the partnership agreement between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase. The game servers have been shut down and teams were disbanded.
The reason behind the removal
Asian Electronic Sports Federation’s (AESF) announcement on Twitter came with a press release. The press releases state that Blizzard and NetEase had unfruitful negotiations regarding the extension of operating rights. The deal failed to have a renewal, resulting in the games’ shutdown. Hearthstone, Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft are the games that shut down in mainland China.
As a result, the servers hosting the games had to shut down and many teams were disbanded. All these are linked with the November 2022 negotiations, AESF tried to find the solution but was unable to progress further and the conclusion ended by removing the game.
About the 19th Asian Games
The 19th Asian Games is a multi-sport event taking place in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It was originally scheduled for September 2022. Due to the concerns of Covid-19’s new variant cases, it was postponed. Now it is set to take place from the 23rd of September to the 8th of October 2023. All National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and Esports Associations are cordially invited by the AESF to compete in the final seven Esports competitions at the Hangzhou Asian Games. AESF commits to providing Esports athletes with a top-notch stage where they can show what they are capable of and produce a strong performance.
Conclusion
With Hearthstone’s removal, the focus shifts towards the players and teams that were a part of it. Many professional players retired from the competitive scene in January this year. Blizzard and NetEase’s deal negotiation led to this situation. And as a part of the Esports program at the Hangzhou Asian Games, 7 games will take place.
