Multiple sources within the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) have told The Esports Observer that teams have received no official word from developer Blizzard Entertainment regarding whether or not the game’s professional league will continue in 2019. Players, managers, and even commentators employed by Blizzard for the 2018 season have taken to social media this week to express frustration at the company’s perceived lack of communication.

That feel when my stress about not knowing if I have a job next year and that I might lose the whole life I have built for myself over 7 years isn't letting me sleep, but not sleeping well is just making the stress worse. — Tetcher – Chris ? (@Tetcher) December 10, 2018

This lack of communication is in stark contrast to Blizzard’s communication in previous years. A source familiar with the situation told The Esports Observer that this time last year, teams were in the process of traveling to an HGC player summit to discuss details of the upcoming season and provide feedback on rules and structure changes for the league. This source said that at least one team has reached out to Blizzard on multiple occasions through multiple channels, only to either be ignored or told that no information can be provided.

Another source, who asked to remain anonymous, provided the following statement to The Esports Observer:

“Last year the communication from Blizzard overall was pretty consistent compared to what we have now. New players into HGC were given information on when they’d receive their HGC accounts and we were also given no less than two weeks notice of the HGC Summit—when and where it would be held. This time however there is a complete lack of information even on small things like HGC accounts for players who are new to HGC.”

Related Article: Why Blizzard Should Drop the Heroes of the Storm Professional League

As an additional point of contrast, Blizzard recently announced plans to completely overhaul its esports structure for Hearthstone , including an unprecedented $4M USD prize pool for the season.

The Esports Observer reached out to Blizzard Entertainment last Friday for comment, but did not receive a response.

While it is unlikely that Blizzard has completely withdrawn esports support for one of its titles, the lack of details for next season has particularly affected certain HGC teams. Unlike the franchise systems of League of Legends or Overwatch , many Heroes of the Storm teams do not have the backing of professional esports organizations or high profile investors. These teams are currently attempting to secure contracts with such organizations for the next season.

Maksym “Mopsio” Szczypa, pro player for the unsigned team Leftovers, told The Esports Observer that having no information on the upcoming season has hurt his team’s negotiating power.

“The lack of information has made our negotiations really difficult,” he said. “We have had conversations with multiple companies and esports organizations, but we cannot offer them anything concrete. We sent a couple of emails to Blizzard requesting any kind of information we can use about 2019 such as amount of LAN play, and what we, as a Team Owner can offer to potential sponsors. We only got a reply that ‘nothing was announced,’ so some of our talks died. I am hoping that after the announcement is made, we can come back to some of those companies and continue talking with our potential sponsors.”

Despite significant prize pool support, Blizzard has been unable to achieve its previously-stated goal of having all HGC teams signed to organizations in 2018. Earlier this year, multiple organizations withdrew from the league, citing frustrations with Blizzard communication among their reasons for leaving.