If you haven't heard of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, you've either been living on the moon for the last few years or survivingRobinson Crusoe-esque on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific.Or perhaps not. Anyway, here's my point: Hearthstone is a majorplayer in the 'freemium' games market, akinto the recent arrival Pokémon Go, which has been making huge headlines. It's a digital card game centred around World of Warcraft characters where, to put it simply, the aim is to collect cards, build decks and then play and (hopefully) win games against other players online.Of course, like any game, there are intricacies and strategies and there's even a nascent professional scene too.
Hearthstone is a big money-spinner.
The game's developer, Blizzard, is making jaw-dropping amounts of cash from this game. Some estimates put it at around $20 million a month which makes it one of the most successful games of recent years. The game is technically 'free-to-play' thanks toan in-game money system whereby players can collect gold coins by winninggames and completing challenges. These gold coins can then be used to buy packs of Hearthstone cards in the online shop. Unfortunately, it's a slow way to build a collection and many players choose instead to use real cash to buy cards and become competitive much more quickly.
Special Hearthstone announcement on 28th July.
A few days ago, Blizzard announced that they would be releasing some exciting Hearthstone news on 28th July duringthe Chinajoy Expo.
Based on the way previous updates have worked out,it seems likely that a new Hearthstone Adventure is about to bereleased which will add a selection ofnew cards to the collection. The Adventures involve players pitting their wits againstcomputer-controlled characters where the challenge is to defeat them to unlockthe cards.
In the past, the Adventures have been divided into weekly challenges and it is expected that players will still be able to use gold coins as well asreal money to gain access.
Those in the know seem to think that the new Hearthstone Adventure will be based in theKarazhan dungeon, an area first introduced in the Burning Crusade expansion of World of Warcraft. Stay tuned and we'll bring you all the news once the announcement has been made.
