EA Cancels Its MOBA Experiment, Dawngate

Smite is more than okay. It's about the only thing that Hi-Rez has going for it, and it's pretty popular still.

I'm surprised to see this about Dawngate, though. I'm curious if it has to do with number of people playing or just overall development time and costs. I would assume it's the latter. Nonetheless, they haven't been able to balance that game at all, and they've been TRYING to.

Sad news, as the game was damn fun.

@beb: Heroes of the Storm I assume is in third place. Blizzard has a built in fanbase, though, and the MOBA genre did start out as a mod to Warcraft 3, so they have something of a claim to it. I can't imagine any other studio having success though. Crytek is working on a MOBA that I have absolute certainty will fail. There was a Lord of the Rings MOBA but I don't know if that is still running.

It's actually has a very small player base still since it's technically in an invite only alpha still. It's grown considerably over the last month or so but Smite and Heroes of Newerth have more of a player base than Heroes of the Storm.

@honkalot: probably when dota 2 was announced.

9.6 million

I didn't play it much, but I actually had fun playing this game. If there weren't so many MOBAs, this could have actually been pretty good.

@hayt said:

Well, MOBAs have a lineage that goes back to a Blizzard game, and that sort of Blizzard-styled art is already oversaturated as it is in fantasy-type games. Doesn't really surprise me that so many coöpt that aesthetic.

There are some outliers though. Awesomenauts is widely considered a MOBA and is both 2D and visually far different from this. Same with Monday Night Combat, a few others. Yeah, they're kind of wildly different styles of MOBA, but hey, MOBAs be MOBAs.

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Really any MOBA that come out now have to really have a big, unique (or both) "hook" if they just want the "team v team" match. What this game should have tried was experimenting with game modes. I don't mind playing the standard "red vs blue" match but what I am really eager for are alternate modes. For instance, "horde modes" or even goofy things "pudge wars" can be fun that are dramatically different play.

Speaking specifically about Dota 2, even though each match of Dota 2 I play are dramatically different, it does ware on me after a couple of matches where I need to get up from the computer even if I won. On the other hand I had a lot of fun with last year's "Wraith-Night" even where I could queue and re-queue for hours. If a new MOBA came along and had a mode like that I would stick around a lot longer.

One of the things I like about Infinite Crisis (yes there are things to like about it) is their Gotham Heights game mode. It's a capture and control mode which emphasizes holding points. The nice thing about it is at the 6 minute mark and every 4 minutes after there is a control point in the center of the map that can greatly increase the losing teams chances of winning a map if they can control it. So not only are you having to manage control points but you are also trying to minimize casualties and team fights at those 4 minute marks to have some pretty awesome team fights. The other thing I really like about this mode is that the games only last about 15-20 minutes at most.

I do agree I think the thing that needs to happen now is game mode types. I think Blizzard is on the right track with their unique map types as while games tend to be similar the mechanic of the map makes each one feel a bit different.

That is a good point that even modes like "Capture Point" would work in really well a MOBA system. And you are correct that Blizzard is trying something else here where it isn't about beating the enemy team by "hero vs hero" combat, although that does help, where it is more often about completing objectives that wins matches. I would love to tinker with a mode where only creeps can attack structures and ancients where everything players do is protect/buff your creeps while clearing/debuf enemy waves.

I'm not saying MOBA need to get rid of the "5 v 5 match" or the classic maps but unless other new MOBAs want to end up like Dawngate, they need to also try to craft new modes that forces players to compete in other ways.

@zirilius: The Gotham Heights map is a copy of LoL's Dominion mode which has been around since 2011.

Thanks. I don't play LoL or DoTA so I have no perspective on that kind of stuff from those games. The thing I like about capture and control modes is that games tend to not drag on. I've played quite a few 90 minute or more matches on Smite and losing those is always heart breaking and stressful. Losing a 30 minute capture and control match (which is what I'd consider long) tends to be a little less painful.

@zirilius: I know the feeling. I love the idea of playing MOBAs, but just don't have the kind of free schedule to be able to sit down at my PC with no idea whether the next time I can get up will be in 20 minutes or over an hour.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/09/23

I can't help but keep wondering if Apple's announcement of Vainglory (oh god that name) played into this decision at all?

I wouldn't be surprised if EA's end-game goal with this was to create the definitive mobile MOBA, a task that becomes much MUCH tougher with Apple backing another.

From the little i knew about this game, i will not say i am shocked or really all that sad to see it go. The characters had good designs and the map was very nice looking and colourful. However, the gameplay itself was nothing new.