Edit: "Even new heroes", couldn't really think of a worse way to word that. I get that he was probably pretty down about the news, though, gotta suck to hear that something you've loved and worked on for years is getting semi-axed because of corporate fucks.
There was an eSports scene for HotS long before HGC, though? I remember the good old days with Khaldor casting VoDs of pro matches on his youtube and stuff. Like it or not, eSports was something a lot of fans wanted for HotS and even with HGC gone, fans will likely continue to try and make an eSports scene happen, unless there's just absolutely no interest anymore (which I could see happening with no Blizzard backing).
I'd be surprised if he wasn't working on the WC3 remaster. If he isn't, it seems pretty insane to me that Blizzard would be working on another RTS when they already have SC2 and a recently remastered Broodwar. Not to mention that RTS games aren't really killing it on the market these.. years, heck, this decade.