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Blizzard's MOBA Is Making An Unexpected Comeback

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Published Sep 12, 2026, 1:47 PM EDT

World of Warcraft Xal’atath is kicking off a new era for Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm is making an unexpected comeback in 2026

Xal Key Art

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At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment announced a new hero for Heroes of the Storm: Xal’atath. He’s coming to the game later this month, and could signal a larger return of support for the game.

World of Warcraft players will recognize Xal’atath as the Harbinger of the Void and a major player in the MMO’s recent Midnight expansion. Xal’atath will come to Heroes of the Storm's PTR next weekend, and is playable for those attending BlizzCon.

Warcraft's Xal’atath could kickstart Blizzard's MOBA

Xal’atath is the first new Heroes of the Storm character in nearly six years. The most recent release was Hogger in December 2020, a year after Blizzard ended active development on HotS. Blizzard indicated at BlizzCon that Xal’atath may not be a one-off; depending on player response, the company said it may consider adding additional heroes to the game.

Heroes of the Storm initially released in 2015 and was Blizzard’s answer to the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) craze. The game featured heroes from across Blizzard's brands, with playable characters borrowed from Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. While the genre had emerged in the custom game and modding communities of Warcraft 3, Blizzard’s official MOBA lagged behind games like League of Legends and Dota 2, never finding the same level of success as those titles.

By 2018, Blizzard had drastically scaled back development resources going towards the game compared to the likes of World of Warcraft or Hearthstone. After 2020, new heroes stopped getting added. While players haven’t gotten much more than the occasional balance update or bug-fixing patch in recent years, these BlizzCon announcements indicate that Blizzard is recommitting to the MOBA.

We’ll see if it can do in 2026 what it couldn’t in 2015. Heroes of the Storm remains available for Mac and Windows PC, and Xal’atath will be added on Sept. 28.