In case you don't already have enough avenues for getting your DOTA fix, it looks like EA is moving to get into the battle arena business with Dawngate, a new MOBA from a new studio, Waystone Games (rumored to be a relabeling of the Visceral Games free-to-play division). Just take a look at that concept art, logo, and their website. Doesn't it just scream, "I'm a DOTA clone!" with the way it totally apes that classic Blizzard style?

Waystone Games is currently accepting registrations for a closed beta. So, I guess if you're into ganking, lanes, and that sort of thing, maybe you should sign up and give it a try. Personally, I think that the MOBA space is already starting to get pretty crowded, so I'm not sure why EA would be so quick to jump on board with yet another Warcraft-ian styled MOBA when Dota 2 and LoL are already demanding so much time and attention from that user base.

I guess it'll be interesting to see if Dawngate brings anything new to the table, and with EA's microtransaction abuses already under a microscope, people are going to be paying a lot of attention to how this game gets monetized.

Prediction: This will be the usual EA doing the same thing others are successful at doing but a year or 2 too late and fail. They won't understand why they failed either. See TOR and Medal of Honor for more details.

They'd have better luck ripping off Super Monday Night Combat. Uh oh, I think I just gave EA an idea.

Yeah, I'm with you.

This is insightful. As @pr1mus noted, EA won't have much luck copying what others have done successfully (see sited examples) but if they go off in a different direction like the FPS oriented MOBA that would have a chance of capturing an audience.

ps. I'm half surprised this announcement was a Star Wars MOBA....

That's kind of funny. Sad, but funny.

C'mon, EA. You occasionally publish good and interesting games like Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, and Dragon Age Origins. Why can't you do some more stuff like that? Ripping off others will always make you second fiddle to anyone else.

@pr1mus: @extomar: Yeah, the most depressing thing about this is that it looks like such an also-ran attempt at doing exactly the same thing Dota 2 and LoL are doing right now. Maybe it'll manage to do something to distinguish itself, but it definitely gives the initial impression is that it's just a clone.

Also, a Star Wars MOBA would probably totally work. I would have preferred that announcement.

Haha, for a major publisher they really are too busy trying to copy the other profitable brands rather than making their own.

Either turning their complex shooter into Call of Duty, or their third person RPG into Gears of War, or their horror classic into a co-op exploder, or forcing Bioware to compete with RTS developers, or trying to copy WoW, and now DOTA.. laughable, man.

I don't know. LOTA MOBA came out, and that did alright, didn't it? I'll think EA will be fine.

Their C&C, they should announce by now, though..

More competition the better! Hopefully Blizzard's Dota is coming soon. This kind of stuff creates innovation and MOBA's need it badly!

This follows the recent EA trend of following instead leading, so I'm not surprised. They're not acting like a major publisher, they're acting like a Zynga or Gameloft and they need to cut that out.

Dawngate, more like Yawngate, amirite or amirite?

@phatmac said:

I agree that the MOBA format could use some innovation. However, most of the games in the genre tend to stick pretty close to the known formula, and I see no reason to suspect that Dawngate won't do the same.

I imagine that a lot of these developers probably actively avoid being too innovative. Why risk potentially scaring off the built-in MOBA fan base when you can just put your efforts into producing a polished product that panders to them?

I'm not seeing a DOTA clone, no..
Aeon of Strife on the other hand, good lord, they ripped that off and yadaayada

There ain't no party like a "Moba" party because a Moba-party don't stop.
So the more the merrier!

The only moba I want is a Skylanders moba.

It seems so obvious, so why aren't they doing it

I'm all for more in any well established genre but it has to do unique. I don't want to play another fantasy MOBA because I would just play Dota 2 but I would try a game that had a different art style or focused on different aspects. For instance, it feels like no one has gotten the "tower offense" part of MOBA right yet where I'd be happy to try one that claimed they could pull it off.

Well this looks derivative as all get out.

I think this will crash and burn pretty fast unless they market the living beejezus out of it.

Why another fantasy MOBA? Why not a sci-fi or other variation? Add at least a bit of originality.

I don't think I'd be able to invest the time to learn/play any new MOBAs since they're such time sinks but I'd at least check out a Marvel MOBA. If it were good that is. Star Wars has sorta lost me and would feel super IMBA for the Jedi's imo.

You can tell a game is going to be good when one of the selling points is a "flexible meta".

because you know what the world needs... another MOBA. I mean maybe it will be new and different, but EA isn't really about innovation atm.

@pr1mus said:

I'll go one step further and say that I have a morbid curiosity to see how poorly and in what ways this game fails to match the twin juggernauts of DOTA 2 and LoL. Considering EA's current stance on microtransactions... this could be comically bad.

Also, is Blizzard Dota still a thing? I feel like I heard about that ages ago and not much else since.

Blizzard Dota is now Blizzard All-Stars and other than announcing the new name after settling with Valve over the copyright issue they haven't shown or said anything about it.

@arbitrarywater: I'm pretty sure Blizzard All-Stars is still a thing, and I'm actually sort of looking forward to giving that one a chance when it's released. It is Blizzard after all and some of the gameplay changes that they're making sound interesting.

Totally agree, this seems like blatant bandwagon jumping. Part of the success of Dota is the goodwill that Valve has with its customers, the ease of use of Steam, and the involvement of Icefrog. This game has none of these, people hate Origin, EA, and who knows which studio will do this. Maybe if they put some twist of it, but right now everything about it smacks of a money grab.

Actually, we do know at least a little info on that. It's this newly formed Waystone Games, which there's a pretty good chance is comprised of some guys from Dead Space developer Visceral Games. There were rumors floating around toward the end of last year about Visceral working on a free-to-play MOBA, and a lot of people are speculating that this is it.

@chaser324: I guess I'm a bit more hopeful then? Although that begs the question of why isn't this a sci-fi MOBA since Dead Space was a space shooter. I would also say that Visceral is a good studio but Icefrog seems like the cult-of-personality type that defines a game whereas Visceral has ruined Dead Space and all those LoTR/Bond games were mediocre. Honestly, I'm more hopeful with the weird DC comics MOBA than this, but pointless to gossip until they actually have gameplay.

Given how they failed to keep Battleforge exciting, interesting, and balanced, I suspect this will last for maybe a year at most.

I feel like the well is dry for direct DOTA competitors. The market, at least on PC, is already largely cornered by LoL and Nevereth and DOTA 2. I think if one wants to succeed with the DOTA formula on the market, one needs to approach from another angle, respectively genre.

If the newly formed DICE Los Angles studio would develop a F2P DOTA-inspired FPS set in the Star Wars universe - a Star Wars Battlefront DOTA, if you will - I could see them creating a market for themselves, with much more potential than directly following LoL & Co.'s lead.

I guess EA works with a *Why not try?* attitude in regards to this project, but I doubt that's the right approach for longterm success really. Evolve and innovate - transform. Best into something that's suited for the upcoming free 2 play console market, which is rumored to be a heavy push with these next generation machines.

I guess if the game is good then no harm done. Though the current market for Dota based games seems already awfully crowded.