Hearthstone, the Esports competition in which India found its first Esports Asian Games medallist Tirth Mehta in 2018, will no longer be a part of the 2023 Asian Games. announced Olympic Council of Asia on Thursday.
The statement released by the Asian Esports Federation(AESF) stated that the negotiation between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase ended inconclusive and as a result, all servers hosting Hearthstone on the Chinese Mainland have been shut down and the team managing the game has been disbanded.
Despite constant efforts from the AESF, there was no significant progress in the situation due to which the decision for the removal of the program was confirmed.
Showing his disappointment, please find below the quote on behalf of Mr. Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF), said, “It is unfortunate to hear that Hearthstone will not be included in the upcoming Asian Games, especially because India’s first Esports medal at the tournament came in this very title in 2018 when Tirth Mehta clinched the bronze medal.”
“That achievement holds a special place in our Esports community and we were hopeful that our talented athletes Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Varma would be able to bring similar honour to the country by competing in this official medal sport.”
Esports is to make its debut at the Asian Games 2023 as a medal event, earlier in 2018 it was present as a demonstration title. The Asian Games 2022, originally scheduled for September last year, will now be held from September 23 to October 8, 2023.
“Nonetheless, we respect the OCA’s decision and remain confident that our athletes will perform at the highest level in the other titles to make the country proud. We look forward to supporting them as they represent India in the prestigious tournament,” he added.
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