Hearthstone

The normal gameplay mode is one-on-one matches between a player and a randomly selected human opponent. Within this, the Standard game mode uses prepared decks limited to cards from the Core set alongside the expansions from the last two years. A separate Wild game mode allows all past and present cards to be used subject to deck construction rules.[13] Both Standard and Wild game modes are divided into Casual and Ranked modes. Players can climb the tiered ranking system in Ranked, while Casual allows for a more relaxed play-style. At the end of each month, the Ranked season ends, rewarding players with in-game items depending on their performance.[14]

Other more specialized multiplayer modes include the following:

• Arena has the player draft a deck of thirty cards from choices of three cards over several rounds. Players continue to use this deck against other Arena decks until they win or loses a number of matches, after which the deck is retired and players gain in-game rewards based on their record.[15]
• Tavern Brawls are challenges that change weekly and may impose unusual deck-building guidelines.[16]
• Battlegrounds, introduced in November 2019, is based on the auto battler genre, allowing eight players to compete in each match by recruiting minions over several rounds. Players are paired off randomly in each round, with combat between minions played out automatically, with the goal of having minions remaining to damage the opponent's hero, and ultimately be the last hero standing. The top four heroes place and earn a win and increase rating points.[17]
• Duels, introduced in October 2020, is a multiplayer version of Hearthstone's singleplayer "Dungeon Run" game mode. Players start with a 15-card deck they assemble themselves, and (like Arena) battle other players until they win or lose a number of matches, after which the deck is retired and players gain in-game rewards based on their record. After each match, the player chooses between three 'buckets' of three cards each, or a treasure card to add to their deck. Unlike Arena, there is a casual mode that requires no entry fee.[18]
• Classic mode uses a mirror of the player's library of all cards that were in the game as of the June 2014 release of the game, reverting any updates or changes to these cards in the interim, effectively representing the game's start at the time of its release.[19]
• Mercenaries, introduced in October 2021, is focused on a party-based combat system with roguelike mechanics. A player creates a party from six minions from a central Minion Village and uses that party to complete various quests, both as player-versus-environment and player-versus-player. Battles in this model use a color-coded system similar to rock paper scissors where minions of one color are strong against another color but weak to the third color. Players use this system and minion abilities to try to win battles. With loot gained from combat success, players can use facilities in the Minion Village to improve the attributes and abilities of individual minions or recruit new minions.[20]

In addition to these multiplayer modes, there are solo adventures. These adventures offer alternative ways to play and are designed specifically to challenge the player.[11]

Hearthstone interface designer Derek Sakamoto presents at GDC 2015.

The development of Hearthstone at Blizzard was inspired by two directions, according to developer Eric Dodds: a desire for Blizzard to develop something more experimental with a smaller team in contrast to their larger projects, and the shared love of collectible card games throughout the company.[67] Blizzard executives, around 2008, had considered that their revenue was primarily sustained on three well-established properties (the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo series), but saw the rise of small independent developers with highly successful projects, representing a shift in the traditional video game model. To explore this new direction, Blizzard brought a number of people into "Team 5", named after being the fifth development team formed at Blizzard.[68] Initially, the team had between 12 and 15 members, in contrast to other Blizzard games with teams in excess of 60 members.[67] By November 2015, the team had 47 members.[69]

Of the game types they explored, Team 5 soon focused on the collectible card game approach, given that many on the team and in Blizzard had played such games since their introduction.[68] The team found it natural to build the card game around the existing Warcraft lore; according to production director Jason Chayes, Warcraft was already a well-known property, and the depth of characters and locations created for other games in that series made it easy to create cards inspired by those. They also saw that new players to Warcraft may be drawn into the other games through playing Hearthstone.[70]

The team was able to pull concepts and art from the pre-existing World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, first published in 2006 by Upper Deck and later by Cryptozoic Entertainment; when Hearthstone was near completion, in 2013, Blizzard terminated its license with Cryptozoic as to favor their pending digital card game.[68] The addition of heroes, an aspect from the previous trading card game, was found to help personalize the game for the player to allow players to discover useful combinations of cards for each hero.[70][68]

After about a year of starting development, the team had produced an Adobe Flash prototype of the game that offered the core card game mechanics and the unique heroes. At this point, several on Team 5 were temporarily moved into other teams to complete the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. This 10-to-11 month period was considered fortuitous by the team, according to Chayes. Principal designers Dodds and Ben Brode remained developing Hearthstone, and the two were able to quickly iterate many ideas using both the prototype and physical replicas to fine-tune the game mechanics. Secondly, those that were put on StarCraft II came back with ideas based on StarCraft's asymmetric gameplay to help balance the various heroes while still creating a unique characterization and play-style for each.[68]

Further development on the game's user interface began using the principle that the game needed to be both accessible and charming, being able to draw in new players and to be clear how to play the game.[68] Unity is used as the game engine in the interest of speed and to make the game run smoother since the server is where all of the rules exist and calculations happen then the server tells the client what happened. Dodds stated that "it's important that you don't have to spend a lot of time understanding the rules to play the game, the depth grows as you go."[68] Gameplay elements such as pre-made decks for each hero, deck building helps, and visual cues on which cards could be played were used to guide new players. Card text was written in a way so that a new player should be able to immediately understand the effects.[68]

From the beginning, the game was designed to be played solely online and to mimic the feel of physical cards to make it more accessible to new players. Dodds found that past attempts to digitize physical card games by other companies left areas they felt were lacking, and wanted to improve on that experience.[67] One particular example is card games where players have the ability to react to other players; Dodds noted that when playing in the same room as another player, these types of interactions are straightforward, but consume a great deal of time in a virtual space. Hearthstone was designed to eliminate any gameplay from the opponent during the player's turn, streamlining the game.[70]

Other aspects of the game's interface were set to replicate the feel of a physical game being watched by an audience: Hearthstone starts with the player opening a box, during gameplay the cards waver and move while in their hand, and cards when played slam down on the board. When attacking, cards leap across the board to strike the target; when a massive spike of damage is dealt, the board shakes; when a massive creature is summoned, the unseen audience gasps in awe.[70] Hearthstone also offers interactive boards. The boards on which the cards are played can be interacted with in various ways, such as virtually petting a dragon, although the feature is purely for entertainment and has no effect on gameplay.[70] This idea came out from the movie Jumanji in which a board game comes to life, and also mimics how physical card players would often toy with their cards while waiting on their opponent.[71]

Unlike physical trading card games, Hearthstone was designed early on without any trading system between players. Hamilton Chu, the executive producer of Hearthstone, stated that "a key thing for us was focusing on [the user]... playing the game", and that trading and market features would dilute this experience.[72] Blizzard wanted to do things such as avoid a free market where card values could fluctuate, discourage cheating methods like bots and duping, reduce the unauthorized third party sales (all against the terms of use), and keep the profit derived from the game for the company.[73]

The game's name, Hearthstone, was meant to imply to a close gathering of friends by a hearth, a goal of what they want players to feel.[70] According to Chayes, they had experimented with other constructs of where these card games would take place, and only about halfway through development came onto the idea of using a pub's hearth as the theme; Chayes stated that with that concept, "this is a great way to play, it works with all our values, it has a lot of charm".[71] To maintain a friendly environment around this construct, they added in the ability to trigger one of a few friendly compliments that can be said by a hero, so that players could still emote to their opponent without having to worry about any vitriol.[71]

The soundtrack was composed by Peter McConnell; with trailer music by Jason Hayes.[74] According to McConnell and Dodds, who oversaw the music direction, they wanted to create a soundtrack that would reflect the tavern setting they had established for the game, but they did not want to overwhelm this theme. McConnell came upon the idea of mixing Celtic music with blues rock—pondering the idea of "what if ZZ Top or Golden Earring had been transported back in time to the Middle Ages?"—and working in other previous Warcraft themes among the new songs with help from Hayes.[74] Hayes also worked with Glenn Stafford to create short "stingers" of music used when players summon Legendary cards.[74]

The beta testing periods were used to evaluate the game's balance, adjusting cards found to be too powerful or too weak, and making sure no single hero or deck type dominated the game.[71] As they approached the game's release in March 2014, Blizzard found that it was hard to generate interest in getting people to try the game; those they asked to try the game felt that Hearthstone was not the type of game they would be interested in playing. At this point, Blizzard opted to make Hearthstone free to play and while card packs can be bought with in-game currency earned through winning matches and completing quests, players can also buy packs if they do not want to wait on earning currency. This helped to significantly boost the game's popularity on release and led to the development of the "quests" feature, further allowing players to earn more in game rewards for free.[71]

Blizzard provides regular bug fixes, updates, and expansions for Hearthstone. Hamilton Chu, the former executive producer for Hearthstone, stated that Blizzard intends to support the game for ten to twenty years.[75] The principle means that additional cards have been introduced to the game are through either themed Expansions or Adventures. Blizzard had originally envisioned to release Expansions in a staged approach as to not drastically jar the player community, creating the Adventure concept for the first post-release addition with Curse of Naxxramas. The meta-game remained unpredictable for several months, helping to keep the playing community interested in playing the game and invalidating their strategies. The solo challenges on Adventure mode also served as a means to help players understand some of the stronger archetypes of card decks and learn strategies to defeat them, helping them become better players against human opponents.[76] From 2017 in the "Year of the Mammoth", expansions focused around the new card sets, forgoing the first Adventures format, but new solo adventure types were later added.

Development of the themes and mechanics for each Expansion and Adventure are often based on the current atmosphere around the Hearthstone community, according to senior designer Mike Donais.[75] While early expansions were based on the Warcraft franchise, the developers have been able to move away from staying with that narrative and are free to create new aspects not established by Warcraft. This idea was reflected by the dropping of the "Heroes of Warcraft" subtitle from the game's name around December 2016 to demonstrate to new players that the game was no longer tied to Warcraft.[77]

In addition to new cards and mechanics, Blizzard has also worked to add new features to Hearthstone itself. The Tavern Brawl mode was in development for over a year before it was released in June 2015; the feature went through many iterations before the team was satisfied.[78] Dodds equated the Tavern Brawl mode as a place to try experimental mechanics that may later be introduced to the game, as well as to offer gameplay that varies significantly from other areas of play within Hearthstone.[79] Blizzard experimented with cross-platform play during development, having successfully played a game on PC against a player using an iPad; however, it was not a feature at launch.[80] Cross-platform play was added in April 2014.

The introduction of the Standard vs. Wild formats in April 2016 was an issue that the developers knew since Hearthstone's initial release that they would need to address; according to Brode, as new cards were introduced to the game, they recognized that new players would start to find the game inaccessible, while adjusting the balance of the meta-game of which cards from previous expansions had proven over- or underused.[81] The ideas for how to actually implement Standard mode started about a year before its introduction. Though they will continue to design the game to maintain the appropriate balance for the Standard format, they will also monitor how future cards will impact the Wild format and make necessary changes to keep that mode entertaining.[81] With the "Year of the Mammoth" changes to Standard, the designers opted to move some Classic cards to a new "Hall of Fame" set that is not usable in Standard. They found that these cards were often "auto-includes" for certain deck types, and created a stagnant metagame around those decks, and opted to move them out of Standard. As compensation, those that own these Hall of Fame cards received the arcane dust value of the cards they possess while still being able to use those cards in Wild.[25] The "Hall of Fame" format also allows Blizzard to move Classic cards that have been nerfed (purposely weakened) previously to be un-nerfed and moved into the "Hall of Fame"; Blizzard found that players using Wild decks were impacted significantly by these nerfs and this approach would allow those deck formats to still thrive without disrupting Standard. To make up for cards moving out of Classic, Blizzard may consider bringing in individual cards from retired sets into the Classic set that they believe would be suitable for Standard.[82] The associated switch of Arena mode from Wild to Standard with modified card rarity distributions with the "Year of the Mammoth" update was aimed to keep the pool of cards available to draft smaller, increasing the chances of drafting cards that they had intended to be used in synergistic combinations from the individual expansions.[83]

In July 2019, several cards underwent artwork changes (and two were renamed) to be less graphically violent and sexualized. Lead mission designer Dave Kosak said, "It wasn't because we were looking at ratings, or international [regulations], or anything like that. We really just wanted our artists to feel good about everything in the set."[84]

Starting in 2020 and ongoing, Blizzard started to view Hearthstone as a platform for multiple game modes rather than fixed around the main one-on-one game. Internally, multiple "strike teams" within Blizzard worked on the multiple aspects of this new approach simultaneously, with some teams working on the game modes while others work on new card and expansion ideas.[85]

To mark the release of Hearthstone, Blizzard released the Hearthsteed mount for World of Warcraft players that is obtained by winning three games in Arena or Play mode.[102] Widely advertised on various World of Warcraft websites, this promotion encourages players to try Hearthstone, and marked the first significant crossover implemented between Blizzard games. Since then, multiple promotions have been implemented in other Blizzard titles such as Diablo III: Reaper of Souls,[103] Heroes of the Storm,[104] StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void [105] and Overwatch.[106]

An alternate hero for Shaman, Morgl the Oracle, is available through Hearthstone's "Recruit A Friend" program after the recruited friend reaches level 20.[107] Players that connected their Amazon Prime subscription to Twitch Prime in late 2016 earned the alternate Priest hero Tyrande Whisperwind.[108] Other Twitch Prime promotions have included a golden pack, which is a Classic card pack that only contains golden versions of cards, two exclusive card backs, and two Kobolds & Catacombs packs.

Since the Blackrock Mountain adventure, each expansion and adventure have introduced an exclusive card back for players that pre-ordered it.[109][110] The Boomsday Project, Rastakhan's Rumble, Rise of Shadows, Saviors of Uldum, Descent of Dragons, Ashes of Outland, Scholomance Academy, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, and Forged in the Barrens expansions each offered an alternate hero portrait as a bonus for ordering the largest preorder bundle: Mecha-Jaraxxus for Warlock, King Rastakhan for Shaman, Madame Lazul for Priest, Elise Starseeker for Druid, Deathwing for Warrior, Lady Vashj for Shaman, Kel'Thuzad for Mage, N'Zoth for Warlock, and Hamuul Runetotem for Druid respectively.[51]

To promote the Journey to Un'Goro set, Blizzard made a web series called "Wonders Of Un'Goro" featuring an adventurer exploring the area.[111]

Before releasing the Knights of the Frozen Throne set, Blizzard worked with Dark Horse Comics to publish a three-issue comic book series based on the set's Death Knight theme.[112]

To promote the Kobolds & Catacombs set, Blizzard released "The Light Candle", a live-action short spoofing films from Jim Henson of the 1980s while its characters are exploring a dungeon.[113]

By September 2014, there were more than 20 million registered Hearthstone players[151][152] and by January 2015, there were more than 25 million.[153] As of June 2015, the active players were estimated to be about eight million PC players and nine million mobile device players, with some overlap between each group.[154] Blizzard reported 30 million players in May 2015, 40 million in November 2015 and 50 million in April 2016.[155] Blizzard reported it gained 20 million players over the following year, reaching 70 million unique players, and that they saw record numbers for simultaneous players during the launch of the Journey to Un'Goro expansion in April 2017.[156] By November 2018, Blizzard stated that Hearthstone had achieved over 100 million players.[157] In the November 2021 Year of the Phoenix Review, Blizzard reported that there were over 20 million active players in 2020.[158]

On May 6, 2015, Activision Blizzard announced that Hearthstone and Destiny generated nearly $1 billion in revenue for the company.[159] According to SuperData Research, in June 2015 Hearthstone generated about $20 million in revenue during that month.[160] KeyBanc Capital Markets estimates that Hearthstone generates an annual revenue of $600 million worldwide, as of July 2019.[161]

Hearthstone has proved to be a popular game to stream and watch on services like Twitch; Hearthstone-based streams overtook Dota 2 streams to become the third-most watched game on the platform in September 2015[162] and it was the fourth-most watched game in April 2016.[163] In March 2017, Hearthstone was still the fourth-most watched game while nearly matching Dota 2's hours.[164]

On Jan 23, 2023, players in China lost access to Blizzard's games because the company's license agreement to use NetEase servers expired.[165]

Forbes awarded Hearthstone as the best digital card game of 2013.[166] At The Game Awards 2014, Hearthstone was awarded the best mobile/handheld game.[167] In December 2014, GameSpot awarded Hearthstone with mobile game of the year.[168] GameTrailers awarded Hearthstone with multiplayer game of the year and best overall game of 2014.[169][170] At the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, Hearthstone was awarded with "Mobile Game of the Year" and "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year", as well as receiving nominations for "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design", "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming", and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay".[171] At the 2014 BAFTA Awards, Hearthstone won best multiplayer game.[172] At the 2014 NAVGTR Awards Hearthstone won the Game, Strategy (Dan Elggren) award.[173] The One Night in Karazhan expansion pack won the award each for "Best Handheld Audio" and "Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game" at the 15th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best Music in a Casual/Social Game".[174] In 2018, the Kobolds & Catacombs expansion pack was nominated for "Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game", while the game itself won the award for "Best Original Song" with "Hearth and Home" at the 16th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.[175] In 2019, The Boomsday Project won the awards for "Best Music in a Casual/Social Game" and "Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game" at the 17th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.[176]