People Aren't Watching Hearthstone Anymore But Are They Still Playing?

It’s been a few months since Hearthstone’s last set, Journey To Un’Goro , was released and fans are itching for something new. In the middle of an expansion, fans can tend to get bit bored with the game, looking for something else to try. Hafu, one of Hearthstone’s most prolific Arena streamers, recently tweeted about what looks like a steady decline in Twitch streaming viewership since the set launched in April.

With a high barrier of entry (you need to spend real money to get all the good cards) and a lack of game modes (just add 2v2 to the game Blizzard), Hearthstone’s looking kind of dated. Are fans really bored with the fantasy card game, or is it just a natural part of a game’s hype cycle?

A few Hearthstone streamers and pros took to reddit to share their opinions on the matter. “This is the typical pattern for viewership with every release. I'm sure you see similar results with just about any game with periodic updates/DLC/whatever,” Brian Kibler said. “I'd personally love to see more releases, but I imagine a huge number of more casual players would feel priced out and/or left behind with much more content.”

Frodan , Blizzard’s go-to shoutcaster and snazziest dresser in the scene, echoes Kibler’s sentiments: “ Hearthstone is def (sic) down whenever we get deep into an expansion and will continue to go down until the next one.” He expects his viewers to continue to plummet throughout July, picking up again when the next expansion launches in August.

For old fans of Hearthstone , this fear that the game is somehow dying is nothing new. Unlike games like League Of Legends that update almost bi-weekly, Hearthstone has one giant set released every three or four months. In the middle of that gap, no new cards are released or even teased. Players are stuck with whatever was in that nearly 130-card set, which can get kind of boring.

I definitely play and watch more Hearthstone Twitch streams immediately after a set is released. Unlike smarter players, I feel the need to jump directly into the ranked ladder, so I need to craft the most OP deck as soon as possible. There’s nothing better than watching streamers like Disguised Toast or Kibler , who have already bought every useful card in the set, beat down opponents with what they claim is the next meta goliath.

There’s no way to know why exactly people are watching less Hearthstone on Twitch. It could have to do with the rise of other games, like Player Unknown: Battlegrounds , taking the spotlight away from Azeroth’s favorite pastime. I don’t think that these charts signify the death of Hearthstone , it’s just in a lull. Players will bound back to watching the game after Blizzard gives us some new toys to play with.

Do you think Hearthstone is dying or are those charts “fake news?” Tell us in the comments.