A few days ago, the huge hype around Auto Chess broke out, and Valve and Riot are throwing their fighters into the ring. Both games, Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics, are being received with great interest on Steam and Twitch. What are the chances for the two?
Where does the interest in the games come from? Auto Chess is a phenomenon that has captivated many players. It has already attracted many viewers on Twitch and thousands of players when it was “just” a small, independent fan mod for Dota 2.
After the game principle of the “autobattler” has caused a similar hype as the first “Battle Royale” games in recent years, several major developers and publishers have set out to also take a piece of the pie:
- Dota Underlords by Valve is now in the Open Beta
- Teamfight Tactics by LoL developer Riot is free to test
- Auto Chess Mobile from the original developer comes exclusively to the Epic Store
The arms race among developers has drawn the attention of fans, who are now eagerly following what is happening in development.
How popular are Teamfight Tactics and Dota Underlords?
So popular is Teamfight Tactics: Teamfight Tactics has been playable on the League of Legends test server since June 18. Since its launch, it has skyrocketed on Twitch, landing at number 1.
Currently, both Teamfight Tactics (number 2) and the parent game League of Legends (number 1) are at the top, ahead of the previous Twitch king Fortnite (as of June 21 at 14:15).
While the trend is slightly declining, it is still consistently high (via sullygnome). Over 200,000 players watched Teamfight Tactics simultaneously shortly after the beta release. No statements can be made about player numbers.
So popular is Dota Underlords: Dota Underlords currently has not had such a good start on Twitch. It has been in Open Beta for PC, iOS, and Android since June 20, but was already playable beforehand through the Dota 2 Battle Pass.
At the moment, only just under 12,000 players are watching. But even at its peak on June 14, Dota Underlords only reached 62,860 viewers (via sullygnome). Less than half of Teamfight Tactics.
However, Dota Underlords can boast an explosive start on Steam. Shortly after the launch of the Open Beta, Dota Underlords alone had 146,752 players on Steam simultaneously, with an upward trend (via steamcharts).
What does the future hold for both games?
What Teamfight Tactics still offers: Teamfight Tactics will be integrated into League of Legends as a new game mode starting June 25, 2019. This will resolve the current biggest annoyance of the community: accessibility.
Currently, Teamfight Tactics can only be played through the PBE, the public test environment. To gain access there, players’ accounts must have invested some time in LoL and must not have been sanctioned.
What Dota Underlords offers: Dota Underlords has already integrated several features in the Open Beta, including crossplay between mobile devices and PC. There is also a small roadmap with features that are still planned, such as:
- A selection of Underlords that are supposed to complement your playstyle
- A Battle Pass
- Seasonal rotations to bring some fluctuation to the selection of heroes and items
Who will win?
In principle, it is hard to say which of the two games will ultimately be more popular, or if both might even be overtaken by Epic’s Auto Chess. Both have chances and problems:
What are the chances for Teamfight Tactics: The greatest strength of Teamfight Tactics is its popularity on Twitch. As such, success can be greatly influenced, as seen recently with Apex Legends.
Advantages:
- Integration into LoL to entice LoL players to the game
- Strong presence on Twitch, media interest
Disadvantages:
- No mobile version
- No standalone client for people who want to play only Teamfight Tactics and not LoL
What are the chances for Dota Underlords: Dota Underlords has the Steam platform on its side with Valve as a developer. Since it started strongly here, the likelihood of it becoming a great success is high.
Advantages:
- Free and standalone on Steam
- Already planned features that are coming
- iOS and Android versions for mobile gamers
Disadvantages:
- Less media attention from streamers
- Taste of being a “copy” of Dota Auto Chess in part of the community
At the moment, the chances for Dota Underlords are a bit better. However, when Teamfight Tactics is released on June 25, this could change quickly. Because even now, Teamfight Tactics is experiencing a massive influx:
