Hearthstone bot maker closes down following Blizzard botting bans

The maker of the Hearthcrawler and Warcrawler bot software has shut down its operations after Blizzard banned "several thousand" bot accounts last week. In a statement posted on its website, the developers said they're sad about pulling the plug, but knew that this day would come.

"Thank you all for being part of our community. We are very sad about this but you also know botting is against the rules and we all knew that the day when our products doesn't work anymore would come."

Blizzard dropped the banhammer on "several thousand" Hearthstone bot accounts last week, saying, "Fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated," but those bans will expire in 2015. Blizzard also recently implemented permanent bans against "win traders," and said that future botting bans will be permanent as well.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.