Eight months later, we can say with absolute certainty that the statement was grown in the deepest levels of Blizzard’s PR dungeon, sprinkled with the highest quality of Corporate brand bullshit, and masked with enough perfume so as to hide its decaying stench long enough for people to forget about the whole thing. Two heroes have been released, and a number of events that focus on selling skins are all players have been given, and there is no reason to expect anything m

As with LoL , Dota2 also got into eSports in a big way. The International, Dota2 's annual global tournament, began with a prize pool of just $1.6 million. By 2019, The International’s prize pool had grown to over $31 million--the largest offering of any esports tournament in hist

Blizzard, rather than come to a compromise to benefit all parties, chose instead to abandon KeSPA and partner with Global StarCraft League (GSL) . The decision was catastrophic from the start, as KeSPA prohibited its member teams from participating in any StarCraft II competitions. The best talent in the world was effectively prevented from playing in any tourname

These are the fundamentals of Dota 2 , and most MOBAs in general, but as stated earlier, the skill ceiling is incredibly high. This is why the esports scene is so competitive, and the prize pools are larger than any other g

To no one’s surprise, the long-awaited release of Starcraft II launched with esports as an integral part of Blizzard’s marketing strategy, and yet, it never reached those same peaks as its predeces

MOBAs arrived as a popular genre back in 2011, but their origins can be traced back to the late ‘90s. A popular StarCraft map called Aeon of Strife is often quoted as the original MOBA. Instead of players controlling multiple units and the structures with which to build more, players controlled just a single hero unit and fought alongside a number of lesser AI-controlled units. The map is just three lanes, with the AI-controlled units battling in each one to a standstill (usually). It's up to the player-controlled heroes to turn the tide and ultimately destroy the enemy's b

One such mechanisms is creep pulling and managing the runes on the map to build a clear advantage overtime against your enemy. All these mechanics are hard to learn, but outwitting your enemy through these strategies is what makes DOTA2 so much more rewarding to p

One thing which was never explored, and still isn’t, is how the mages who managed the league maintained control over certain champions. While Nocturne is certainly a prime example of a champion who vocally opposes what is basically his prison, cases such as Morgana and Kayle are professed demi-g

Blizzard would have much greater success in Overwatch , a first-person shooter version of the moba Advanced Tactics. Others wouldn’t be nearly as lucky. Paragon , Dawngate , Infinite Crisis , Arena of Fate , and Battleborn all came around the same time and all failed to live up to expectations. Many of them simply failed altogether with servers shutting down a few short years la

Reading his story, it makes sense why Sol would choose to compete in the league. What doesn’t make sense is how anyone else could defeat him. A space dragon who can create entire star systems seems a bit out of the reach of someone like Jax who simply swings a light post. And yet, Aurelion Sol isn’t even that g

Players generally perform better when they feel good about what they're doing. So, when they land that perfect headshot, let them know that somebody noticed. If they're a newer player, offer advice and tips instead of petulant whinging. It should go without saying, but they'll be a bit more receptive, and a lot more likely to help when it's nee

Part of the original lore of the game dealt with how certain champions were bound to the league. Essentially, their power was held by the league. This allowed them to remain bound, such as Nocturne, and allowed their powers to scale back and forth between battles universa

Which is kinda what happened to MOBAs. A few years ago, it seemed like Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas were taking over the world, with a new MOBA being announced almost every month. Now, most of those games have failed and only a few MOBAs live on to fulfill that ni

Dota2 wasn't far behind. The game was released from open beta in July 2013 and quickly climbed the Steam charts, surpassing longtime standbys like Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike (although CS:GO would later regain its title as most popular game on the digital platform). At the time of its release, Dota2 had over 520,000 concurrent players. By January of 2014, Dota2 had over 738,000 players, and by February of 2016, Dota2 had peaked at 1,291,328 concurrent play

You can easily make the argument that video games are a saturated market; anyone who wants to buy a game can easily do so through any number digital distribution platforms for either home console, PC, or mobile device. This doesn’t stop games from being sold, but it does make it a little harder for new games to get noticed. After all, there’s a whole wide world of huge games out there, so why would any gamer bother with something