Hearthstone removed from Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games Esports Program

This year, the esports section of the forthcoming 2022 Asian Games will be missing one famous game: Hearthstone.

During the fifth Coordination Committee meeting on Thursday, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) confirmed the resolution presented by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (HAGOC) and the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF).

Due to the failure of talks between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase regarding the extending of running rights and their collaboration agreement, all Hearthstone servers hosted on the Chinese mainland by NetEase have been shut down, and the operation team has been dissolved. The game is no longer eligible to be one of the competing events at the Hangzhou Asian Games as a result, according to a statement from the event's officials.

AESF said in an official release: "We remain fully dedicated to providing a world-class platform for Esports athletes to showcase their skills and abilities to the world. We sincerely hope you will join us in making history at the Hangzhou Asian Games and demonstrate the boundless potential of Esports as a major sporting phenomenon."

The Hangzhou Asian Games will now include seven Esports games as a result of the OCA's most recent ruling, including Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, DotA 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version, and Street Fighter V.