Update: Dean Ayala, a game designer for Hearthstone, commented on the studio’s recent quiet on the Hearthstone subreddit. In his answer, he apologizes for the lack of communication and emphasizes that the company has no plans to postpone the expansion’s release. The complete response is as follows:
“Having any sort of celebration right now is a tough sell. I can guarantee you that the only reason we’re hesitant to move forward with stuff like streams or card reveals is because we care about our coworkers. This is a very crucial moment to evaluate and ensure that we are on the right track. There is no gag order in place, and no legal team is dictating what we can and cannot say. Our main focus is on each other now.”
They claimed that all of this is to say that they still care about our work and are committed to creating a fantastic game. It’s the entire reason most of them have come to begin with. They have no intentions to postpone our debut or additional advancements. They are just taking their time to make sure that all of them will nail this
The original story may be found below.
Original Story: A scheduled webcast for Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, United in Stormwind, has been canceled by Blizzard. This comes after numerous streamers canceled their own cards in the wake of a California state lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and abuse at the corporation.
United in Stormwind is set to hit theaters on August 3rd. Blizzard often spreads card reveals across multiple websites, streamers, and other influencers in the weeks leading up to the debut of a new expansion, culminating in a final card reveal event when all of the remaining cards are revealed.
At that point, the patch is usually made available for download so that players may get ready for the launch. The webcast for today was scheduled for 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. PT.
However, abuse claims leveled against Activision Blizzard in a California lawsuit have thrown a wrench in their plans this year. In light of the suit, popular streamers Alliestrasza, Lt. Eddy, and Trump canceled their own card releases, leaving those cards unrevealed. It’s been up for debate in recent days whether Blizzard would go forward with their reveal live, and if so, if that stream would address the topic.
Blizzard removed the link from its official site just before the live was supposed to run, and there is no scheduled stream on its Twitch schedule. Since the news of the lawsuit emerged, the Hearthstone Twitter account, as well as several other Activision social media profiles, have gone offline.
Blizzard was contacted by GameSpot about its plans to unveil the remaining expansion cards, as well as if the expansion will still be released on August 3rd.
On the Hearthstone subreddit, users have expressed their displeasure with the cancellation’s short notice. Over the previous week, there have been a variety of reactions to the claims, with many people, including the subreddit’s administrators, expressing sympathy and solidarity with the claimed victims.
