The MOBA genre is controlled by two giants: Dota 2 and League of Legends. But shortly after the release of LoL, Heroes of Newerth (HoN) also came out. It was supposed to be the big rival of LoL, but it died shortly after because its approaches did not fit the then-new genre.
The origin of the MOBA genre lies in Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft 3 mod. Riot Games wanted to bring this experience to life as a standalone game with League of Legends. LoL was released in October 2009 and was considered the first standalone representative. But shortly after, in May 2010, Heroes of Newerth was also released.
- The game cost 30 dollars
- It copied characters from the original Dota but also had its own ideas
- The game was more complex, darker, and more demanding than LoL
Despite these unique features, few people today know this game, and it has not been officially playable since 2022:
The oldest competitor of LoL is being discontinued – Heroes of Newerth dies after 12 years
The price was the first barrier to entry
LoL was a free-to-play game right from its launch. Nowadays, people often think negatively about F2P service games. But back then, when the genre was still new, a barrier of entry of 30 dollars for a game in a genre one didn’t know yet was high. That was exactly the price Heroes of Newerth charged at the time.
Moreover, service games are a huge time sink. If you like LoL, you probably won’t switch to Heroes of Newerth, especially since it costs money, and you certainly wouldn’t play two representatives of such a complex genre. A year later, however, HoN switched to the F2P model.
LoL establishes itself as an e-sport title in Asia
The other significant advantage was held by Riot Games, the studio behind LoL, with its distribution. While it took a long time for Heroes of Newerth to open servers outside the USA and Europe, LoL quickly appeared in China and other Asian countries.
South Korea and China were important countries for LoL back then and still are today: League of Legends is incredibly popular there, and service games work well in these countries anyway. LoL struck a chord early on because it apparently appealed to the competitive side of the players there.
A significant difference between Heroes of Newerth and LoL is also the visual presentation.
Heroes of Newerth was inspired by the art style and design of its heroes from the original Dota. It was darker and more western
in its designs. For western players, that might be more interesting, but the colorful League of Legends is appealing to more people, and the anime designs of many LoL champions work better in Asia.
Dota 2 was the last nail in the coffin
Three years after the release of Heroes of Newerth, Valve finally released Dota 2. The release of the game on Steam was a huge success, and many players from Heroes of Newerth switched to Dota 2 to try it out, many of whom stayed there.
Dota 2 is also visually and gameplay-wise closely related to the Warcraft 3 mod. However, Dota 2 was produced better, with significantly more budget and developer power behind it. This made Dota 2 appear more modern than HoN.
Without the big budget and the number of employees, Heroes of Newerth could hardly compete with Dota 2 and LoL. Although the studio S2 Games announced a new MOBA in 2013, people were laid off, and support dwindled until the official servers were finally shut down in 2022.
Many young players will never hear of Heroes of Newerth, and to this day, few games have managed to establish themselves in the MOBA genre. Accordingly, Heroes of Newerth joined a lineup of many dead MOBAs that failed to establish themselves.
However, many mechanics from the game made their way into other MOBA giants that are still successful today.
Dota 2 was the first game to introduce the Battle Pass, which is now included in almost every service game, but Valve is now discontinuing it:
DOTA 2 gives up the Battle Pass – Now prefers to improve the game
