Hearthstone Announces New Expansion Next Week As Game Director Departs Blizzard

Blizzard's Hearthstone plans for the new year will be revealed soon -- on March 15, to be exact. That's when the first of the three yearly expansions for the game will be revealed, with news on the rest of the year coming "shortly after."

That was the bulk of the Hearthstone-related news in today's "Future of Warcraft" announcement, which also reminded fans to check out the first season of the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament, which has been going on since February and only on YouTube, and you probably had no idea, right? There's another competitive event coming up, Lobby Legends: Raid Leaders, which will be Hearthstone's first Battlegrounds event of the year. That takes place on April 2-3.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.

Another big piece of news regarding Hearthstone -- and one that's less likely to get a press release -- is the departure of Game Director Ben Lee, who announced his impending career change on the Coin Concede podcast last week. Lee took over the position at the end of 2018, and in his time oversaw the addition of the demon hunter class, Battlegrounds, and rewards track, as well as the Blitzchung scandal.