A number of Asian countries are about to join Blizzard’s storm.
The publisher announced today a partnership with Asiasoft that will see Heroes of the Storm released in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Blizzard’s multiplayer online batter will hit those markets in the “near future.” As part of this arrangement, Asiasoft will operate and handle marketing of the free-to-play PC game Thailand and Singapore. CiB Net Station and Level Up, both subsidiaries of Asiasoft, will handle those duties in Malaysia and the Philippines, respectively. This should ensure that Heroes of the Storm has a chance to stand out from the crowd of multiplayer online battle-arena games (MOBAs) — which includes the incredibly lucrative League of Legends and Dota 2 — in the important Asian market, which spends millions on free-to-play PC games like this.
“On behalf of Asiasoft and its subsidiaries, we are honored to be Blizzard’s partner in bringing Heroes of the Storm to gamers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines,” Asiasoft chief executive Pramoth Sudjitporn said in a statement. “We are working closely with Blizzard in preparation for the game’s launch and we look forward to providing Blizzard’s brand of online brawler to gamers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines.”
Asiasoft previously worked with Blizzard on releasing Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and other Blizzard games in Southeast Asia.
Heroes of the Storm is in an invitation-only testing phase now, but Blizzard intends to launch it later this year. In this MOBA, players to control many of the most-famous characters from the publisher’s back catalog of games in a team-based strategy game with action elements.
“We believe gamers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines will love playing Heroes of the Storm,” Blizzard chief operating officer Paul Sams said.
Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard’s second major free-to-play release of 2014. The developer recently published the head-to-head digital card-collecting battler Hearthstone for PC and iPad. That game is already one of the most downloaded and highest-grossing titles on Apple’s tablet in many of the biggest markets in the world. In the U.S., it is No. 7 on the download chart and 12 based on its revenue.
Analysts anticipate that between Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, Blizzard could generate $200 million in revenue in 2014.
Blizzard is working with Chinese publisher NetEase to bring Heroes of the Storm to that country.