When League of Legends and DOTA 2 were freshly on the market, other publishers also wanted a piece of the MOBA pie. Warner Brothers even wanted to score points with famous superheroes. But that didn’t work either, and today hardly anyone remembers Infinite Crisis.
What was Infinite Crisis?
- First announced in 2013, Infinite Crisis was released in March 2015
- Warner Brothers collaborated with developer Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. to develop the MOBA
- The main unique selling point was the playable heroes from the DC Multiverse
- Accordingly, there were Batman, Superman, the Joker, and others.
In the 2010s, MOBA was considered the new hit genre. Many publishers tried to establish themselves, but as we know today, only a few survived. Infinite Crisis also suffered a heavy fate, as the game died after only a few months.
Nothing New Except Heroes
The main feature of Infinite Crisis was, of course, the champion roster, consisting of well-known DC heroes and villains. In addition to Batman, Aquaman, Superman, and others, there were also lesser-known characters like Atrocitus, Solomon Grundy, or Katana. If you want to see all the heroes that were playable back then, you can check them out here: Infinite Crisis Wiki.
As typical for MOBAs, there were also roles like Bruiser, Marksman, Support, or Tank. There were four maps, which besides the classic 5 vs 5 with 3 lanes also copied another game mode from LoL, namely Dominion. A game mode that was also discontinued in LoL in 2016. The most interesting map, however, was Coast City, which featured 2 lanes that differed in speed and objectives.
To stand out from typical MOBAs, there were also destructible environments and objects on the map that could be picked up and thrown with summoner spells. Aside from that, there were fewer mechanics that differentiated it from the major genre representatives.
A Quick Death
A closed beta began on May 8, 2013. An open beta was then available on March 14, 2014. The official release of the game was on March 26, 2015. Shortly thereafter, on August 14, 2015, the game was taken offline again. Despite the big names, the title did not survive more than 5 months.
Massivelyop.com summarizes the Steam player counts at that time. At launch, the game had only 4,700 players, which of course continued to decline in the following weeks. In May, according to SteamDB, the game averaged only 1,600 players. Even the announced death of the game brought in more players in the following months.
But why did the game flop so badly?
- On one hand, the MOBA genre, due to its complexity, is not designed for players to play more than 1 or at most 2 MOBAs. Anyone who plays LoL or DOTA 2 will likely not jump on Infinite Crisis
- The YouTube channel Akshon Esports lists other reasons:
- Many modes and mechanics were too similar to League of Legends; why would one switch if they are already playing a similar game?
- The champions were also a problem according to Akshon Esports. Although the names were big, many familiar heroes were available in unknown versions due to the multiverse. At the start, for example, there was only a vampire version of Batman, which is not interesting for comic newcomers.
Despite the developer’s efforts in terms of new heroes and the ranked mode, the game simply never managed to gain significant popularity. Other MOBA competitors also died, but hardly any as incredibly fast. Heroes of Newerth at least lasted 3 years: A game was supposed to be the big rival of League of Legends: but it died after only 3 years
Ultimately, Infinite Crisis also marked the end of Turbine as it was before. The studio, which previously made games like The Lord of The Rings Online or Dungeons and Dragons Online. In 2018, the studio was renamed WB Games Boston and developed only two mobile games after Infinite Crisis: Batman: Arkham Underground (2016) and Game of Thrones Conquest (2017).
Did you play Infinite Crisis back then? If so, what did you think of the MOBA? Do you miss it or do you find it right that it has died? Let us know in the comments. Infinite Crisis is of course just one example of many MOBAs that tried to compete with LoL and DOTA 2. You can find more dead representatives here: RIP! 8 MOBAs that didn’t make it
