Why HOTS failing isn't as surprising as we think it is

Alright so a lot people think that HOTS failed out of the blue. Now let me read something from ATVI's Q3 financial report .

" Blizzard had 37 million MAUsC in the quarter. World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth set a new day-one franchise record with more than 3.4 million units sold-through. World of Warcraft engagement grew strongly quarter-over-quarter. Hearthstone® recently surpassed the 100 million life-to-date registered player milestone.

Activision had 46 million MAUsC in the quarter. Destiny MAUsC grew quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, driven by the launch of Forsaken and reach initiatives for the base game. Activision MAUsC increased significantly in October following the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. In the first three weeks after launch, Black Ops 4 sold-through more units than Black Ops III, with PC sell-through more than three times higher. Additionally for the first three weeks after launch, total active users and hours played were 16% and over 20% higher respectively, versus Black Ops III."

The Overwatch League™ continues to build on the success of its inaugural season with the announcement of the sale of another six teams in September, again at a substantially higher valuation than the team prices in the first season. These latest sales take the total league roster to 20 teams, with nine teams outside the U.S."

Notice how there is no mention of HOTS - it was failing and who wants to tell the investors your losing money. So they did what any good business does put the game on legacy mode so people can still spend $$$ and and they have to never touch the game again. Its not necessarily gone just never going to be looked at by a dev again."

Now lets look more into this report.

This is the literal only time they mention HOTS " We delight hundreds of millions of monthly active users around the world through franchises including Activision's Call of Duty®, Destiny, and Skylanders®, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Hearthstone®, Diablo®, StarCraft®, and Heroes of the Storm®, and King's Candy Crush™, Bubble Witch™, and Farm Heroes™. "

This was an obvious sign to me as an investor that they weren't doing so well with it because they are hiding it (Most businesses do this). Now the rest of the IPs are still doing good. Keep in mind that even with all the Diablo Backlash people will still play it since it is most likely going to be free. Just look ad RDR 2 Online - riddled with microtransactions but people still play.

Also for clarity and transparency I am currently financially invested in Activision Blizzard

TL;DR : In the Q3 financial report their were several warning signs about them ending Heroes of the Storm this isn't some big surprise like everyone thinks it is