Blizzard resumes active development on Heroes of the Storm and adds Warcraft 3 DLC

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard announced that Heroes of the Storm would get its first new playable character in six years.

The character is Xal'atath, a villain from World of Warcraft.

The game had been in a limited-maintenance state since 2022, leaving some players feeling that Blizzard had abandoned its community.

The announcement suggests Blizzard is restarting active development, but it made no major promises about the game's future or a development schedule.

Blizzard also released Forsaken Kingdom, a full-length new campaign for Warcraft 3: Reforged.

That game had a troubled launch in 2020 and has received updates since then.

These moves have given some fans reason for cautious optimism, but the company says its focus for Heroes of the Storm is sustainability.