Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and StarCraft 2 developer Blizzard has registered a trademark for “Compete,” a service that will allow users to organise eSports tournaments.
The trademark was originally spotted by a Reddit user and, as noted by members of the subreddit, seems to encompass TeSPA Tournaments, a portal Blizzard used for the Heroes of the Dorm tournament.
The “Compete” trademark indicates an intention to rebrand the TeSPA portal and expand its services to become an “online, non-downloadable application” for tournament hosts.
Among its listed applications are the ability to “organize and promote e-sports tournaments, create and customize tournament brackets and ladders, track tournament progress, maintain related statistics, and post results.”
Blizzard’s stable of games played at tournament level has increased since the StarCraft days. While the sequel to its sci-fi real-time strategy series, StarCraft 2, is still played competitively, it has taken a backseat to Hearthstone and the company’s new MOBA, Heroes of the Storm. Both titles are currently the key focus of Blizzard’s eSports push.
In April 2015, ESPN broadcasted the championship round of the collegiate Heroes of the Dorm tornament. The event was shown in a primetime slot, where it competed for viewers against the NBA playoffs and Major League Baseball, among other traditional professional sporting events. The move received praise from eSports and Heroes of the Storm enthusiasts, but criticism from fans of traditional professional sports broadcasting.
Turn-based card game Hearthstone, meanwhile, has proved to be a huge success for the company. Data provided by a research company has indicated Hearthstone makes approximately $20 million monthly. This means it generates more cash than Valve’s wildly popular MOBA Dota 2, which reportedly makes about $18 million monthly.
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