MOBAs: The Emergence of the Free-to-Play Craze

The rise of MOBAs, and where they're set to go next.

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games, more commonly referred to as MOBAs, are all the rage lately. Thanks to the success of games like League of Legends and Dota 2, a lot of developers are trying to hop on the bandwagon. But what exactly are MOBAs and what makes these types of games so popular? More importantly, why are there so many developers trying to create MOBAs all of a sudden?
Before we can take a look at why MOBAs are so successful today, let’s quickly learn where they come from. In 2003, a mod was created for Blizzard Entertainment's highly successful real-time strategy game, Warcraft III. The mod was called Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, for short.
The mod eventually became wildly popular, and was featured at a huge number of competitive gaming tournaments around the world. The success of DotA can definitely be seen as a jumping off point for the MOBA genre as a whole, as most of the new generation of MOBA titles are all greatly inspired from DotA.

In general, most MOBAs today currently offer only one or two maps, based on the original DotA map. In MOBAs, players control only one character, but that character levels up throughout the game and can grow stronger over time based on a few different factors. The standard MOBA game is played using a top-down isometric view. The map itself features two bases on opposite ends, with three lanes in between them. Each lane has two or three towers that attack enemies, and AI-minions that periodically spawn who help teams destroy the towers and by extension the other team’s base. Usually games are played 5 vs. 5, and the team that destroys the enemy’s base first, wins. There are many other facets to the game, but this is the overall idea.
Today’s MOBAs offer players all sorts of characters to choose from. They can be damage dealers, assassins, strong tank heroes that soak up a lot of damage, supportive healers, devastating magic casters, and everything in between. Currently, the two largest MOBAs out today, League of Legends and Dota 2, each offer over 100 characters to choose from.
Not only do MOBAs allow players to compete against each other, but for new players wanting to learn to play or for those wanting to test out a strategy, they oftentimes offer custom games vs. the bots. Many efforts have been made over the years to make the bots in MOBAs as lifelike as possible. Occasionally bots will get stuck in a tree or something, but for the most part, they use abilities just like real players, buy appropriate items, communicate via pings and chat wheels, and can be great teammates or tough opponents.

The most logical reason why many gamers have flocked to MOBAs is because most of them are free-to-play. In today's economy, with many games costing $60 new, it's fantastic that anyone who wants to play a polished, extremely competitive title for free, now has a bunch of options to do so with virtually nothing to lose but a few hours. Additionally, since many gamers love to play with friends, team-based free-to-play MOBAs are great since you don’t have to convince your friends to buy anything.
S2 Games released a MOBA called Heroes of Newerth in 2010 which was heavily inspired by the original DotA. While in beta, HoN was free-to-play and enjoyed over 3 million active users, but when it was officially released it cost around $30. Associating a price tag with their game didn’t turn out to be the right choice, and S2 eventually re-released HoN as a free-to-play game in 2011. Everyone else in the market learned from that mistake, and now the vast majority of MOBAs are released as free-to-play titles.
The reason most MOBAs can use a free-to-play business model is because they all utilize microtransactions which allow players to purchase in-game bonuses, cosmetic alterations, and other items for a small fee. Valve even allows players to create items for Dota 2 and receive a cut of the profits if their items are chosen to appear in the shop. These items aren’t necessary to play MOBAs, but they allow players to customize their characters and flaunt their creativity. They’re also a great way for players who love MOBAs to give back to the developer, since they didn’t have to pay for the game itself.

By going with a free-to-play model, developers are able to broaden their player-base by allowing anyone the chance to play. Many MOBAs are not that graphically intensive either, making them accessible to users with older PCs or even non-gaming laptops. This allows even more people to enjoy them without having to shell out for a costly rig like they’d have to do for many other PC games. Couple this with the fact that developers are still able to appeal to players who are willing to spend money by offering items in a microtransaction cash shop, and it’s a win-win for everyone.
Despite being free-to-play, these MOBAs are making companies like Riot Games and Valve more money than you can ever imagine. To give back to the fans, they’ve both put efforts in to hosting large professional gaming events, and they work tirelessly to constantly release updates for their games.
Riot Games released its MOBA, League of Legends, on October 27, 2009. In October 2012, Riot revealed that League now averages over 5 million players worldwide every day. League of Legends’ most popular map, Summoner’s Rift, is heavily inspired from the original DotA map, but offers tons of other new features and additions. Some players are so good at League of Legends that they’ve managed to make professional careers out of playing the game. Riot even offers these players a salary to compete in their League Championship Series tournament, where they offer winners millions of dollars in prizes.

Riot generally leads the pack when it comes to map types and releasing new characters too. Most MOBAs only offer one map option, but League of Legends has a couple. Aside from the standard Summoner’s Rift map, Riot have also created a 3 vs. 3 map, Twisted Treeline, and an entirely new game type, Dominion. Dominion is another 5 vs.5 map, but instead of destroying the other team’s base, teams try to capture and hold different resource points around the map. It’s much more fast-paced than other game types, and generally isn’t seen in competition.
Riot also created an All Random, All Middle map, derived from a map mode in the original version of DotA, which only features one lane. It’s a bit more chaotic than your standard game, but sometimes a change of pace is exactly what players need. Riot also recently unveiled the Magma Chamber map at their All-Star Showdown tournament in Shanghai, China. Magma Chamber is a 1v1 or 2v2 map that players can win by killing 100 minions, destroying a tower, or getting first blood (or two kills in the 2v2 version). It hasn’t been implemented into the live game yet, but players seemed to like watching the pros compete on it and want the chance to try it for themselves.
Valve, the developers of iconic games like Half-Life 2 and Portal, jumped in to the MOBA market by trying to reinvent a classic. They recently released Dota 2, which was in beta for over a year and has gone on to become the most played game on Steam. In May 2013, Valve announced that over 300,000 concurrent users were playing Dota 2 at once. Now that the game is officially out and free-to-play for everyone, that number is sure to have gone up.

Competitive Dota 2 is only played on one map, an updated version of the original DotA map. But during holidays, Valve has been known to release an additional seasonal mode for players to enjoy. The first seasonal map was created for Halloween and went along with an event known as Diretide. During Diretide, players had to collect and steal candy from the enemy team and deposit it into a bucket. At the end of 20 minutes, the team with the most candy won.
The other Dota 2 holiday event was released in December and was called The Greevling. During The Greevling, players had to kill certain enemies, called Greevils, around the map. The first team to 11 Greevil kills won, and players could turn in to a Greevil in this mode to gain extra abilities. These events offered players tons of cosmetic items, and were a nice change of pace from the standard Dota 2 mode.
Aside from creating events, Valve also hosts a massive Dota 2 tournament called The International. This year, the event boasts the largest prize pool in competitive gaming history, at over $2.6 million. Professional Dota 2 players from across the globe have been competing for a chance to participate in the tournament, which will be held in Seattle, Washington. To drum up even more excitement for the event, Valve developed an interactive program for the tournament called The Dota 2 International Compendium.
The Compendium allows players to vote in polls and predict the winners of the International’s qualifier matches. Additionally, when fans purchase the Compendium for $10, they receive a cute in-game courier and Valve donates 25% of the revenue straight into the tournament’s prize pool. The International originally started out with a $1.6 million prize pool, and so many fans have bought the Compendium to show their support for Dota 2 and the competitive players, that they’ve raised over a million dollars, bringing the pool to a whopping $2.6 million.

Other large developers are trying to get in on the MOBA trend too. Hi-Rez Studios took a very creative approach, and developed a third-person MOBA called SMITE. Electronic Arts and WayStone have also been working on a resource-based MOBA called Dawngate.
Warner. Bros. Interactive Entertainment has shown a lot of interest in the market by publishing two MOBA titles of their own based on their Lord of the Rings and DC Comics licenses. Guardians of Middle-Earth, which was developed by Monolith and released on PSN and XBLA, allowed users to play as popular characters from the Lord of the Rings franchise as well as other characters from deep in Tolkien lore. WB is also publishing a DC Comics MOBA, Infinite Crisis, which is currently in closed beta, that lets players compete using DC Comics characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Joker.
It’s not just large console developers that want a piece of the action either. Many mobile developers, including heavy hitters like Zynga, are testing out the MOBA waters themselves. Zynga recently released Solstice Arena, a MOBA that’s designed with speed in mind, offering gamers quick 5-10 minute games on-the-go. Other mobile MOBA apps, like Heroes of Order and Chaos, offer standard 30-40 minute games that are played out very similar to normal MOBAs on the PC.
Trion Worlds recently rebranded their RTS, End of Nations, in to a MOBA, and announced they’re redesigning the game to be the next evolution of the genre. MOBAs have become successful enough at this point, that Trion is trying to turn an old project into a MOBA in an effort to save the game.
Thanks to massive developer support and fan communities, MOBAs have become one of the premiere genres in video games today. They’ve already seen tremendous success, but with new developers bringing innovative ideas to the table all the time, it will be interesting to see how MOBAs transform in the next few years. For now, if you’re interested in MOBAs, go try one out. It’s free, after all.