Hearthstone reckons 150 free card packs might get lapsed players to return

gamesradar.com:

Hearthstone is trying to buy back players with dozens of free card packs.

As first reported earlier this week by PC Gamer (opens in new tab), lapsed Hearthstone players are logging into the game for the first time in weeks and months to find free packs awaiting them. One player on Reddit (opens in new tab) reported finding a whopping 150 free card packs waiting for them when they booted up the Battle.net launcher.

It's not just that one player though, multiple people have reported receiving free packs when booting up Blizzard's PC launcher for the first time in ages. While some like the aforementioned player have received a staggering amount, others have received anywhere from 150 packs to 20 packs (opens in new tab).

"We run many different limited and targeted tests such as this to better determine what drives former, new or current players' interest, which is a common industry practice," Blizzard said in a statement to PC Gamer. "This was a region-specific test for Hearthstone in the UK and France for a subset of relevant players who were first randomly sorted into groups before being assigned a corresponding offer between 20 and 150 packs."

So, that puts to rest the random nature of the giveaways - Blizzard designed the packs to function this way. It's slightly odd that Blizzard would limit the free packs to the UK and France, but as the spokesperson for the company alludes to, this was merely a test, and so could well roll out to other regions around the world if the free card packs are indeed successful at getting people reinvested in the game.

It's fair to say Hearthstone's had a bit of a rough time of it so far this year: Players revolted back in April when Blizzard added a $25 card to the game. Yes, you read that