Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has accomplished quite a bit since first being launched earlier this year on March 11th. Most recently, Hearthstone was crowned victorious by a jury comprised of 28 media members. What honor was bestowed upon Blizzard Entertainment’s turn-based card game? Hearthstone has taken top honors in the Best Mobile/Handheld Game category at the first ever 2014 Game Awards. This is the cherry on top of a wonderful year for the Blizzard Entertainment team responsible for Hearthstone, especially since these honors came right around the release of the first Hearthstone expansion dubbed Goblins vs. Gnomes.
Hearthstone has become a hugely popular addition to Blizzard’s already impressive video game lineup that contains such ubiquitous titles like World of Warcraft, Diablo III and StarCraft. Just how popular has the game become? Back in September of this year, the official Hearthstone twitter account announced that they had reached 20 million subscribers only six months after the game was released. Holy Game Lovers, Batman! With the recent Goblins vs Gnomes expansion, players have been enjoying a new take on Hearthstone’s gameplay dynamics as was first promised by Blizzard CEO and Co-Founder Mike Morhaime. Morhaime explained, “Goblins vs. Gnomes is going to turn Hearthstone on its head. It introduces a ton of new cards with all-new options for decks and strategies, and we can’t wait to see all the crazy combinations players come up with.”
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has had a remarkable 9 month lifespan so far, but they haven’t been able to accomplish everything just yet. Hearthstone was nominated as a contender for the Best Game of the Year category for the 2014 Game Awards. Unfortunately, Hearthstone was bested by Dragon Age: Inquisition but still, one cannot deny that this has been a good year for Hearthstone and Blizzard. It will be interesting to see what Hearthstone has on deck for us in the coming year.