Heroes of the Storm Set for a Surprising Revival in 2026

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment unveiled a new hero for Heroes of the Storm: Xal’atath. Set to join the roster later this month, this announcement hints at a potential resurgence of support for the game.

World of Warcraft fans will recognize Xal’atath as the Harbinger of the Void, a significant figure in the MMO’s recent Midnight expansion. Players at BlizzCon will have the chance to try out Xal’atath, who will also be available on the Heroes of the Storm PTR next weekend.

This marks the first new character added to Heroes of the Storm in nearly six years, with the last being Hogger in December 2020, shortly after Blizzard ceased active development on the game. During the event, Blizzard suggested that Xal’atath might not be a standalone addition; depending on player feedback, they may explore the possibility of introducing more heroes.

Heroes of the Storm launched in 2015 as Blizzard’s response to the MOBA phenomenon, featuring characters from its various franchises, including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. Although the genre originated in the custom game and modding scenes of Warcraft 3, Blizzard’s official MOBA struggled to compete with giants like League of Legends and Dota 2, never achieving the same level of popularity.

By 2018, Blizzard had significantly reduced the development resources allocated to Heroes of the Storm compared to titles like World of Warcraft and Hearthstone. After 2020, the introduction of new heroes came to a halt, and players have mostly received only occasional balance updates or bug fixes in recent years. However, the announcements at BlizzCon suggest that Blizzard is re-engaging with the MOBA community.

It remains to be seen if Heroes of the Storm can achieve in 2026 what it couldn’t back in 2015. The game is still available for Mac and Windows PC, with Xal’atath set to join the fray on September 28. Future content releases for Heroes of the Storm are expected to be limited.