After the HGC breakdown, each region has tried to cope with the situation in its own way. China kept things going with the Gold Series Heroes League and allowed foreign players to join. South Korea went for a huge goodbye tournament which gathered almost every former HGC player. The Eastern major regions took diverging paths, but the teams in the West bonded together to create two major competitions: Division S hosted by HeroesLounge (partnering with Nexus Gaming Series in North America); and the HeroesHype Premier Series, a series of cups organized by HeroesHype.

However, once things began to roll, we witnessed two diametrically opposed receptions. The European Division S games always gathered more than a thousand viewers, but the North American ones struggled to get a hundred, and the conflict of whether a league or a cup system is better was again renewed.

A Grieving Region

There are two main reasons for this huge difference in terms of viewership. First, Europe has kept much of the HGC casting talent including Khaldor and Malganyr. In North America, only JHow maintains a solid involvement with the competitive scene, but even that has been limited to small projects like HeroesHearth Fight Night. In his stead, Gravesville and Bahamut, who you may know from the Tespa Collegiate Series, have stepped up to fill the “premier caster” niche.

The second difference is the player profiles. Despite having a similar amount of former HGC players, Europe has been consistently streaming their Division S games and enlarging the total viewership. In addition, many of the non-HGC players made a name for themselves in the Open Division or Nexus Contest. But in North America, most of the Division S players aren’t streamers and come directly from the amateur scene.

But that’s changing. Some former pros have started to join the HeroesHype cups. Keenan, flex player for Close To Death in Division S, thinks that this comeback was just a matter of time once the HGC wound starts to heal.

The Format Debate

Perhaps the format has something to do with former pro players’ decision to come back. Each cup has its own prize pool, so players don’t need to wait until the whole competition is over to see any money (though HeroesHype has an extra prize pool for its playoff). Those in Europe have to wait a little longer for their money, though. Keenan gave his take on this format disparity.



He points out that the cups are much more intense—every match is crucial—but on the other hand, the stability of a league grants you much more room to improve. He also thinks that the coexistence of both formats is overall a good thing for the region.



Tomster is one of the HGC players coming back for HeroesHype cups, playing for Subscribe w/ Twitch Prime. As an old-school contender, he prefers these individual cups which give them a calmer week between competition to relax and to train.



Despite the format debate, the viewership rise in North America with HeroesHype cups is a fact. While still nowhere in the region of Europe’s numbers, competitions have begun to top 200 viewers and start to close the gap. Maybe the mourning has finally ended and the post-HGC era can truly begin.

If you're still following HotS esports or you're finally ready to stop grieving too, you can follow the action from HeroesHype, Heroes Lounge, and Nexus Gaming Series! Get out there and support the players, let's rebuild this scene!