In today’s multiplayer gaming climate, battle royale games are all the rage.
Ever since PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, a couple of years back, and swept the world by storm, developers and publishers left and right have been trying to get a piece of that cake.
New battle royale titles keep coming out, existing games are being updated to include similar game modes, massive tournaments are being held, and so on. This completely new genre of gaming is here to stay and it could be years before we get something that would shake up the scene on a scale battle royale games did.
MOBA games
However, just a decade ago, a different type of game was everyone’s favorite. It all started with a custom mod for Warcraft 3 called Defense of the Ancients. A multiplayer online battle arena where you control a hero in an RTS-like manner to team up with other players against another team was the ultimate craze. Things went wild when League of Legends was released in 2009. Some of the creators of DOTA went to make their own game and create an official title and the rest is history. The game’s player base rose rapidly considering its freemium nature. Anyone could download, create an account, and play for free, unlocking all the necessary stuff by simply playing.
Drawn by League’s success, other developers and publishers started creating their own games. The competition was getting fierce. In the end, it paid off being a pioneer, and League of Legends was one of the rare survivors, going hand in hand with DOTA 2. Now, you’ll have more success playing a JerkDolls game than looking for some of the obsolete MOBAs. During that time, Blizzard decided to enter the MOBA-creation competition. After all, the original concept realized using their engine and their game. That’s when Heroes of the Storm appeared.
At first, the game was a massive hit. It took inspiration from others but went in a different direction. That ensured the unique look and feel. Additionally, Blizzard took advantage of massive player bases that World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch, and their other games had, and introduced those characters to their MOBA. People who never played these types of games were now testing their skills. On top of that, their “easy to learn, hard to master” approach was an initial success. The gameplay wasn’t as simple as with interesting adult sex games, but there were way fewer things to keep track of.
There was no last hitting, gold acquisition, items, and all heroes on the team leveled up together. However, it turned out that MOBA players were actually looking for more complexity. While Heroes of the Storm is still alive and doing well, the player base is not what it used to be. Then, Blizzard finally cut their funding dramatically, and, today, Heroes of the Storm is an interesting yet somewhat casual game where devoted fans can have a pleasant MOBA experience.
