League of Legends and Dota 2, the reigning kings of the MOBA world, once had a rival in Heroes of Newerth. But according to News AU, after a long, slow drop in player numbers, as of today, June 20, the game that was once meant to challenge Valve and Riot Games has been officially shut down.
Developed by former US studio S2, Heroes of Newerth released its first beta in 2009, and initially it looked like it could dominate the then-nascent MOBA genre. The first beta version of League of Legends also appeared in 2009, and Dota 2 underwent public testing the following year; Since MOBAs were still in their infancy, the relatively smaller and less successful Heroes of Newerth have had a chance to compete with the major studios.
However, the sharper visuals and more elaborate mechanics of the Valve and Riot Games offerings quickly began to drive players away from Newerth, and the smaller-scale S2 struggled to compete with its competitors’ upgrade schedules. The game became a free-to-play game in 2011, and in 2015 S2 sold it to Singapore-based publisher Garena.
The developer released a new MOBA, Strife, but continued difficulties caused the S2 and Strife servers to shut down in 2018. Development of Heroes of Newerth continued through Frostburn Studios, and the game began to receive more regular updates.
By this time, however, League of Legends and Dota 2’s stranglehold on the MOBA genre was already firmly established, and in an official announcement in December 2021, Frostburn confirmed that Heroes of Newerth would be shutting down.
“Although HoN’s journey is over, we believe that all the precious memories of our players over the years will never fade,” the studio said in a post on its official Facebook.
To mark the end of the game, Frostburn held a series of farewell events, giving players extra XP and in-game rewards. Then, on June 20, the MOBA servers were shut down.
Source : PC Gamesn
